Margaret Garrett is making a splash in the Southern United States in both Dallas and Virginia. This week, her paintings are part of a three person show in Dallas. Presented in a month-long pop up show, "UNTITLED" features art by Garrett, Gary Komann of Litchfield County, CT and William McLure of Birmingham, AL.
The show is presented by Neilson Fine Art, a collaboration by mother and daughter team Anne Neilson of Anne Neilson Fine Art in Charlotte, NC and Blakely Neilson. It can be found at 250 Turtle Creek Blvd, Suite 210 in Dallas.
"UNTITLED" is timed to open with the Dallas Art Fair, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. The Dallas Art Fair launched both Dallas Art Fair Week and Dallas Art Fair Month, according to Dallas News. Also opening this week is the satellite Vignette Art Fair, now in its second year, according to the Dallas Observer. Art by another Hamptons artists can also be found in Dallas. Eric Fischl of Sag Harbor opens a solo show at Dallas Contemporary. "Eric Fischl: If Art Could Talk" is on view at the Dallas museum from April 12 to August 26, 2018.
In "UNTITLED," Garrett exhibits her painting Contradance and paintings from her "Choros" Series. The contemporary abstract art on view is inspired by dance and portrays the qualities of both movement and rhythm in their expressive forms.
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"Contradance" by Margaret Garrett, 2015. Acrylic on linen, 57 x 66 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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Margaret Garrett's art draws inspiration from her early years as a dancer. Born in North Carolina and raised in Pennsylvania, she grew up training to be a dancer, and at the age of sixteen left home to join the Pennsylvania Ballet and later danced with the Cleveland Ballet as a soloist. In her early twenties, she discovered painting, finding something spiritually akin to dance in the movement of line and color.
“When I begin working on a new piece, I see the paper or canvas as an empty stage and the line as movement," Garrett writes. "Texture, form, the way that colors interact, all are different manifestations of motion, rhythm, and energy.”
She often works in ongoing series, developing a language and following it as it morphs and evolves. Her "Tuning Fields" series, now numbering over 300, uses line-driven layers of color to create loose yet formal fields of motion that are abstract and at the same time evocative of shapes and patterns found in nature. In the "Choros" series of paintings, collages, and woodblock prints, the central preoccupation is with an interplay of shapes that have a solid, even muscular form, to convey a sense of motion and choreography.
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"Solo" by Margaret Garrett, 2015. Acrylic on linen, 66 x 57 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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"Topsy Turvy" by Margaret Garrett, 2015. Acrylic on linen, 74 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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A recent quest to find shapes for her pieces, Garrett began dancing again. She started filming herself dancing and using film clips and screen shots from the videos for her work. This process led to the discovery of an additional way of drawing and finding form in a new series of mixed media pieces and video art. This new direction received a concentrated effort when Garrett was awarded a fellowship last winter at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, VA.
Margaret Garrett’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in galleries and museums across the United States. Her work is held in numerous private and corporate collections in the United States and Europe. Museum collections include the Parrish Art Museum and Guild Hall Museum in The Hamptons. She currently lives and works on Shelter Island, NY.
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"Ritual" by Margaret Garrett, 2015. Acrylic on linen, 74 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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BASIC FACTS: "UNTITLED" will be on view from April 12 to 30, 2018. An Opening Reception takes place on Thursday, April 12, 2018 from 6 to 8 p.m. The pop up exhibition is presented by Neilson Fine Art. Click here for a catelogue that includes art images and essays. "UNTITLED" is presented at 150 Turtle Creek Blvd, Suite 210, Dallas, Texas.
To see more of Margaret Garrett's art, visit her website at www.margaretgarrett.com.
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