Comprised of intimately scaled paintings, the show continues Guérin’s exploration of defined shapes. An opening reception will be held Saturday April 22, from 6-8 pm and the exhibition will be on view until May 27.

Guérin’s compositions start with a ground of built up gesso that amounts to a surface with sinuous hard edges. The texture creates a topographic map where deep valleys and pleats contour and inform the bodily shapes arranged on the pictorial plane. Each of Guérin’s forms are without a referent but rather suggest something vaguely recognizable. The diversity of Guérin’s paint handling complicates the reading of figure/ground relationship within the works. The layering of shapes contributes to the paintings’ visual depth, often shifting their place while cementing their gravity and weight.

For the last few years, Guérin’s paintings have undergone formal and rigorous restrictions. Namely, the artist has only worked in small scale and with the repetition of a few shapes. By creating these rigid guidelines for the practice, the paintings are allowed to develop as variations on a theme. Despite their similar formal beginnings, each painting forms its own individuality through the process of paint application and editing. By working to build surface as well as reveal the layers underneath, the paintings consider both the image and the intimate experience of the studio. The sensual shapes of her canvases are traces of Guérin’s time, labor, and personal connection to the objects.

Magalie Guérin (b. 1973, Montreal) lives and works in Chicago. She has had recent solo exhibitions with Corbett vs. Dempsey, Lyles & King, and soon.tw. She has participated in several group exhibitions, most notably at Elmhurst College and College of DuPage. Her work has also been featured in Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Nicelle Beauchene, New York, and Julius Caesar, Chicago among others. In 2016, she released her first book Notes On, a compilation of studio writings, with The Green Lantern Press. Guérin is represented by Corbett vs. Dempsey.

Click here to see additional images from the exhibition.