PAMELA WILSON / MARY BENNETT December 1 - 23, 2004 Gallery Paule Anglim is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent work by Pamela Wilson. New paintings and a series of drawings will be presented in the artist's first exhibition at the gallery. After moving her studio practice to San Francisco from Chicago, where she completed her MFA and had several gallery shows, Pamela Wilson has developed a series of painted images that combine elements of abstraction, history painting and the stylized sensibilities of early Japanese and Chinese painting. "In each painting or drawing I am trying to join an essentially abstract painting language with the often mundane, but occasionally overwhelming visual realities within the spectrum of everyday life." Wilson's show will feature a group of watercolor drawings based on disasters, or the aftermath thereof. These nearly monochromatic renderings call to the fore the act of looking, as the original newsprint or photographic image was intended to grab one's attention. The delicacy of her handling contrasts against the violence and tension of the subject. In Gallery II, Mary Bennett will show new mixed media sculptures constructed primarily from discarded books. Formerly a Bay Area artist, Bennett moved her studio practice to Santa Fe two years ago. An irrepressible activist and organizer, the artist became more involved with her community and the power of the book as cultural icon through an exhibition she helped organize. In two related exhibitions, one in Santa Fe and one in San Francisco (Reversing Vandalism), books with Gay and Lesbian subject matter from the San Francisco Public Library which had been damaged and defaced were given to artists to rework and revive. For more information on this exhibit click here. "I am most interested in using media that has a prior history where I can rework, re-imagine, re-contextualize or just make up a story." Mary Bennett show will feature individual sculptures made from a single re-configured book, as well as a pedestal sculpture comprised of a group of shapes, each fashioned from a book. A reception for the artists will be held on Thursday, December 2nd from 5:30 to 7:30pm. The Gallery will be closed from December 24th through January 3rd.