Anne Appleby: A Hymn for the Mother
February 15 - April 2, 2022
Parrasch Heijnen is pleased to present A Hymn for the Mother, the gallery’s first exhibition with Jefferson City, Montana-based artist Anne Appleby (b. 1954, Harrisburg, PA). The work in this show travels to Los Angeles from the artist’s recent solo exhibition at the Missoula Art Museum, and incorporates all facets of Appleby’s oeuvre including: painting, video, sculpture, and photography.
The essential becomes visible in Anne Appleby’s paintings through their ethereal aura. The artist feels the changes in her environment—the subtle shifts in minutes, hours, weather, atmospheric conditions, and seasons. These activating moments prompt conversations regarding our complex relationship with nature.
Appleby’s paintings appear both as abstractions and impressions taken from a whole. She creates the illusion of tenuous hues that appear simultaneously in and out of focus by enhancing the final layers of oil paint with wax. From a distance, each image’s precision is accentuated and its details appear harmonious. The more intimate the viewer becomes with the image, the more its abstract qualities reveal distinct textured marks and strokes.
In paintings from the First Light/Last Light series (2021) included in this show, Appleby seeks to capture the color-phenomena of light. In shades of gray and multicolored tones, she depicts fleeting moments of tranquility and joy in her tonal exchanges. Appleby builds colors, creating depth with such minute variety that their source is often difficult to pinpoint—they appear like an imprint of light formed intimately by a specific place, time, and memory.
Appleby’s personal paeans to her surroundings extend into her other mediums, including video and raw sculpture. The video piece Water Voice (2019-2021) follows indigenous children playing in and emerging from the waves, considering our coexistence with nature. This idea carries throughout her work, similar to Untitled (2021) a kneeling clay figure appearing in meditation. Though entirely different in form, both observe notions of our corporeality within the ever-fluctuating environment.
The effects of climate change are directly considered in Appleby’s painting The Pond (2021) where a fog-like haze disperses throughout a forest, melding the background and foreground. Through a pseudo-monochromatic scale, Appleby addresses not just our physical bond, but our spiritual connection with nature, embedding questions of agency regarding our role in protecting the environment. These tinted works reflect a Cree and Anishinaabe belief that certain souls drift in a pre-color state and it is up to those on Earth to guide them into the light.
The gallery exhibition includes a coinciding publication entitled Hymn, that features essays by Grace Kook-Anderson, Tyler Green, John Yau, and Brandon Reintjes in a vast overview of Appleby’s oeuvre. The catalogue was published by the Missoula Art Museum with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York & Parrasch Heijnen, Los Angeles, Jon Lodge, and Tinworks Art. Contact us here to purchase a catalogue.
Anne Appleby studied at Philadelphia College of Art before relocating to Montana in 1971, subsequently earning her BFA at the University of Montana, Missoula, and participating in the GPAIA program (graduate program in American Indian Arts). She eventually established a studio and residence in the sparsely populated community of Jefferson City. In addition to receiving her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1989, Appleby’s educational background includes a fifteen-year apprenticeship with Ojibwa artist and holy man Ed Barbeau, with whom she learned and refined processes of intense meditative awareness in nature reconnecting with her own indigenous roots.
Appleby’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions at galleries and museums worldwide, including Mayor Gallery, London (2010); Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco (1993-2011); Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese (2007); and Borzo Gallery, Amsterdam (2016). Her works are held in the permanent collections of: the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Daimler Art Collection, Stuttgart/Berlin, DE; Denver Museum of Art, Denver, CO; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Panza Collection, Lugano, CH; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; and the Seattle Art Museum Seattle, WA, amongst others. A solo exhibition titled A Hymn for the Mother took place at the Missoula Art Museum (MT) in 2021. Anne Appleby is represented by Franklin Parrasch Gallery in New York, NY and Parrasch Heijnen in Los Angeles, CA.
Anne Appleby: A Hymn for the Mother will be on view at Parrasch Heijnen, 1326 S. Boyle Avenue, Los Angeles, from February 15 – April 2, 2022 with an opening reception on Saturday, February 19, 6-8p. Due to Covid-19, proper face coverings and social distancing are currently required while inside. Gallery staff are available to guide you through our exhibitions virtually via Zoom upon request. A 360º VR Tour can be found on our website to view from your desktop computer or mobile device. For more information, please contact the gallery at +1 (323) 943-9373 or info@parraschheijnen.com
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