Grace DeGennaro
.jpg "<i>River Series (Temple)</i>")
Artist Bio
Click HERE to read Joanne Mattera's review on Grace's solo exhibition at Clark Gallery
Click HERE to read the feature article abouu Grace in Maine Home and Desin Magazine by Suzette McCoy entitled The Language of Abstraction
Click HERE to read about Grace's inclusion in To Infinity and Beyond: Mathematics in Contemporary Art at the Hecksler Museum of Art
Click HERE to read the review of To Infinity and Beyond: Mathematics in Contemporary Art in the New York Times
Click HERE to read more about Joanne Mattera's visit to Grace's studio
Click HERE to read Carl Little's review in Art New England of Grace's exhibition in Maine.
Click HERE to read Nicholas Shroeder's review in the Boston Phoenix.
Click HERE to read a 2007 interview with Grace in Geoform
Click HERE to read the featured article about Grace in Kate Beck: Art Notes
Grace Degennaro: Artist Statement
I am interested in the power of traditional symbols and sacred geometry to communicate ideas that lie beyond the limitations of language and culture. My current work is comprised of a series of works on paper in gouache and watercolor and paintings in oil on linen.
My practice is one of identifying, researching and depicting symbols that are both iconic and numinous. Through research the significance of an image in various cultures is revealed, providing meaning and context for my work. A list of the symbols appearing in my recent paintings includes: vines, diamonds, tongues, waves, fountains and rivers.
On a ground of transparent color the images are rendered through a deliberate accretion of beads based on the idea of gnomonic expansion. This labor-intensive working process reflects and supports the recurrent themes of ritual, memory, growth and the passage of time.
My paintings reference work utilizing an abstract, non-linear perspective such as Byzantine mosaics and Indian Tantra drawings. I am compelled by the spiritual rather than the physical geometry of space.
EDUCATION
MFA Columbia University, New York, NY
BS Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2009 Return to the Source: Paintngs by Grace DeGennaro, Clark Gallery 2008 "To Infinity and Beyond: Mathematics in Contemporary Art," Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY. Curated by Lynn Gamwell and Elizabeth Meryman.
2008 Solo Exhibition, Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, ME
2007 "Salon Show," Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2006 "Bridge Miami," Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, Miami, FL
2006 "Beaded," Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, ME
2006 "Art (212) Contemporary Art Fair," Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York, NY
2006 "The Portland Show," Greenhut Gallery, Portland, ME
2006 "The Maine Print Project," Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME
2006 "The Line of Beauty," Kathleen Cullen Fine Art, New York, NY
2006 "Order(ed)," Gallery Siano, Philadelphia, PA
2005 "Dreambody," Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2005 "Transcribing Time," Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
2004 "Paintings and Drawings," Icon Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME
2004 "Works on Paper," Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2004 "Spiritual Geometry," New Art Center, Newton, MA
2002 "Six Select Six," University of New England, Portland, ME
2002 "Fall Invitational," The Painting Center, New York, NY
2002 "Summer Invitational," Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA
2001 "The Drawing Show," Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
2001 "New Work," Zero Station, Portland, ME
2000 "Vesicas," Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1999 "Hand-colored Drypoints," New England Foundation for the Arts, Boston, MA
1999 "Selections," University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA
1998 "Maine Biennial," Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
1997 "Works on Paper," Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1995 "Winter"s Work," Frick Gallery, Belfast, ME
1993 "Dreams: Poetic Memory," University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME
AWARDS
2005 The Drawing Center Slide Registry, New York, NY
2004 Good Idea Grant (GIG), Maine Arts Commission
1998 Individual Artist Grant, Work on Paper, New England Foundation for the Arts
COLLECTIONS
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Goldman Sachs, New York, NY
Capital Group, CA
Gund Collection, Boston, MA
Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
Mintz, Levin Associates, New York, NY
PUBLICATIONS
2006 New American Paintings, Open Studio Press, Boston, MA
2004 Cate McQuaid, Symmetry and Asymmetry, Boston Globe, March
2003 Edgar Allen Beem, Maine in the Abstract, Down East Magazine, August
1998 Maine Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
1993 Patricia Reis, Dreams: Poetic Memory, University of Southern Maine
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2004 Visiting Artist, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2002-1998 Studio Instructor, Graduate Studies, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME
works on paper paintings contact links home
Grace DeGennaro is fluent in the visual languages of oil, gouache and watercolor paints.
Her technically proficient paintings on both canvas and paper are tranquil, minimal compositions based on traditional symbols and sacred geometry. DeGennaro’s rendering of cubes, diamonds, tongues, pyramids, fountains, rivers and the vesica piscis are meditative in process as well as in observation. Fueled by conscious pattern, concentration on ritual and observance of the passage of time, DeGennaro’s paintings are as spiritual to the viewer as they are to the painter.
DeGennaro earned her MFA at Columbia University. Her work has been shown at Icon Contemporary Art, The New Art Center, The Portland Museum of Art, The Center for Maine Contemporary. Her work is included in the important exhibition "To Infinity and Beyond: Mathematics in Contemporary Art," Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY. Curated by Lynn Gamwell and Elizabeth Meryman. Her work is included in numerous private collections.
Visit Grace DeGennaro"s website at:
http://gracedegennaro.com