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Edda Renouf: A Selection of Paintings and Drawings from 1976 - 2019

January 10 - March 17, 2023

Sign XX, Summer Energy 2016 Acrylic on linen, remo...

Sign XX, Summer Energy

2016

Acrylic on linen, removed and reapplied threads

40 1/8 x 40 1/8; 102 x 102 cm

Sign - 12 (Winter Energy) 2007 Acrylic on linen, r...

Sign - 12 (Winter Energy)

2007

Acrylic on linen, removed and reapplied threads

20 x 20 in; 51 x 51 cm 

Sign X, Monte Alban Oaxaca 2007-2008 Acrylic on li...

Sign X, Monte Alban Oaxaca

2007-2008

Acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads

40 1/8 x 40 1/8 in; 102 x 102 cm 

Frequency Piece - I 1976 Acrylic on linen; removed...

Frequency Piece - I

1976

Acrylic on linen; removed threads

59 x 15 3/4 in; 150 x 40 cm

Random Percussions 1977 Acrylic on linen; removed...

Random Percussions

1977

Acrylic on linen; removed threads

59 x 15 3/4 in; 150 x 40 cm

Signe du Desert II, Dies Martis #2 1993 Acrylic on...

Signe du Desert II, Dies Martis #2

1993

Acrylic on linen; removed threads

27 1/2 x 27 1/2 in; 70 x 70 cm

Autumn Sounds II 1978 - 2011 Acrylic on linen; rem...

Autumn Sounds II

1978 - 2011

Acrylic on linen; removed threads on diagonal

16 x 16 in; 40.5 x 40.5 cm

Diagonal II 3.2015 Acrylic on linen, removed threa...

Diagonal II

3.2015

Acrylic on linen, removed threads on diagonal

16 x 16 in; 40.5 x 40.5 cm

Primal Energy– 20, Earth Sounds 1989 Incised...

Primal Energy– 20, Earth Sounds

1989

Incised and scraped oil pastel on Arches paper

25 1/2 x 22 1/4 in; 65 x 56 1/2 cm

Framed: 32 1/2 x 29 1/2 in; 82.5 x 75 cm

Message 10 1993 Acrylic on linen; removed threads...

Message 10

1993

Acrylic on linen; removed threads

11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in; 30 x 30 cm 

November Echoes (Version I) 2006 Acrylic on linen,...

November Echoes (Version I)

2006

Acrylic on linen, removed and reapplied threads

11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in; 30 x 30 cm

October Echoes (Version I) 2007-2008 Acrylic on li...

October Echoes (Version I)

2007-2008

Acrylic on linen, removed and reapplied threads

11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in; 30 x 30 cm

Meadow Larks 2019 Acrylic on linen; removed and re...

Meadow Larks

2019

Acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads

11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in; 30 x 30 cm 

 

Goldfinch I 2019 Acrylic on linen; removed and rea...

Goldfinch I

2019

Acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads

11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in; 30 x 30 cm

Noon 1993 Acrylic on linen with removed threads 11...

Noon

1993

Acrylic on linen with removed threads

11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in; 30 x 30 cm 

Mid-Afternoon 1993 Acrylic on linen; removed threa...

Mid-Afternoon

1993

Acrylic on linen; removed threads

11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in; 30 x 30 cm 

Sons de mai #2 (Sounds of May #2) 3.2007 Incised l...

Sons de mai #2 (Sounds of May #2)

3.2007

Incised lines, ink and oil pastel on Arches paper

22 x 20 in; 56 x 51 cm

Framed: 25 1/2 x 22 3/4 in; 65 x 58 cm

Night Letter - 8 11.2011 Incised oil pastel on Arc...

Night Letter - 8

11.2011

Incised oil pastel on Arches paper

17 1/2 x 15 in; 44.5 x 38 cm

Framed: 20 3/4 x 18 in; 53 x 46 cm

Sons de janvier #1 (Sounds of January #1) 5.2007 I...

Sons de janvier #1 (Sounds of January #1)

5.2007

Incised pastel on Arches paper

15 x 15 in; 38 x 38 cm

Framed: 18 1/4 x 18 in; 46.5 x 46 cm

Open Field – 1 2016-2017 Incised and scraped...

Open Field – 1

2016-2017

Incised and scraped oil pastel on Arches paper

15 x 15 in; 38 x 38 cm 

Framed: 18.5 x 18 in; 47 x 46 cm

Artist Page

Press Release

Barbara Mathes Gallery is pleased to announce Edda Renouf: A Selection of Paintings and Drawings from 1976 – 2019, a comprehensive exhibition spanning more than forty years of the artist’s career. Presenting a wide range of Renouf’s work, this exhibition will explore her commitment to meditative, lyrical abstraction and the experiments with process and material for which she is known.

Fascinated by the physical qualities of linen, Renouf removes and repositions threads from the weave of her canvases before applying glazes of acrylic paint and sanding the paintings’ surfaces. The process of altering the canvas reveals the inherent structure of the support, rendering it not simply a ground onto which an image is imposed, but rather an integral element of the composition itself. In Sign X, Monte Alban, Oaxaca (2007), for example, the removed and reapplied threads form a textured monochrome grid with undulating horizontals. Named after Monte Alban, in Oaxaca – a pre-Colombian archeological site – this work juxtaposes organic curves reminiscent of the region’s mountain landscape with the horizontal-vertical structure of the linen canvas that recalls the geometry of pre-Columbian pyramids. In Goldfinch I (2019) the repositioned canvas threads create uneven triangular shapes arranged in a simple linear pattern evoking a musical score. The play of positive and negative spaces within the composition emphasizes the artist’s sensitivity to sound as she removes and reapplies threads from the linen canvas, thus revealing its life and energy.

Material and process are equally central to Renouf’s dramatic, tactile works on paper. As in her paintings, she explores the physical properties of her material, often incising her paper to remove fibers, leaving a delicate burr along the lines. In Primal Energy 20 – Earth Sounds (1989) a black rectangular form glows with sharp red lines that result from layers of oil pastel finely scraped to reveal the underlying color. Radiating from this central form are incisions in the paper itself, created by using an etching point and carefully filled with black ink.

Born in 1943 in Mexico, Edda Renouf came to the United States in 1957. After completing her B.A. at Sarah Lawrence College, she studied in New York, Paris, and Munich before returning to the United States to receive her M.F.A. from Columbia University. Her work is held in numerous collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art; the Whitney Museum; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Centre Pompidou; and the British Museum. Major museum exhibitions have included a 1997 retrospective at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, Germany, and Revealed Structures, a 2004 exhibit at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Edda Renouf lives and works in Connecticut together with her husband, the composer, Alain Middleton.