Opening reception for Shona McAndrew: Just the three of us and Jean Shin, whose Allée Gathering is now on view in the Sculpture & Architecture Park. To attend, click here to register during the 1 - 3 pm time slot on Saturday, May 29, under "Visitor Registration."

Just the three of us is on view in the Newmark Gallery from May 29 until August 29, 2021. This sculptural installation portrays a group of friends sharing time together in a living room consisting of over 170 individual papier mache objects, all handmade by the artist. For this exhibition, McAndrew draws from recollections of time spent among her high school best friends. The artist renders her friends as she remembers them at that time: casual, intimate, and out of view of the male gaze. Rather than portraying women and girls in their rooms as preparing themselves to exist for men or in the public sphere, McAndrew seeks instead to illuminate the messy yet harmonious space created by women left entirely to themselves. This tableau draws from the artist’s life and personal objects and includes renderings of snacks, spare change, melting ice cream, books, and magazines.

Jean Shin is recognized for her large-scale installations that transform everyday objects into elegant expressions of identity and community. Using salvaged wood to create a monumental picnic table, Allée Gathering serves as a communal place to rest and gather together in conversation, observation, and reflection. Timbers cut from several felled tree trunks are connected, creating one continuous, horizontal tabletop lined with benches. The specific wood was sourced from ailing maple trees at Storm King Art Center's historic allée, a tree lined pathway. The vertical bisections make visible the trees’ inner cores while also revealing hidden signs of their illness and ultimate demise. The benches’ raw edge and outer bark gives the visitor a sense of the once-standing maples, almost as if one is within the tree itself. Relocated among Art Omi's community of young maple trees, the work continues ongoing dialogue on tree health and its impact on our ecosystem.