Newzones

730 Eleventh Avenue SW

Calgary

May 10, 2008, Saturday 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM - Opening Reception
Exhibition: May 10 - June 28, 2008

For more information Call Newzones at 403-266-1972
Or E-mail Newzones at info@newzones.com

ANGELA GROSSMANN: New Work

Newzones Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new mixed media works by Vancouver based artist Angela Grossmann.

Angela Grossmann has devoted much of her career to examining the themes of displacement and social margins. Her most recent series, Alpha Girls, explores the world of the teenaged girl and the subtle power struggles found within.

Populating this world are young girls in ruffled party dresses, teenagers in various layers of underwear and gossamer clothing. Grossmann's Alpha Girls all stare out at the viewer like a bevy of Lolitas with cutting, almost sardonic smiles. Upon closer inspection, however, it becomes apparent that these works are not entirely about innocence but, instead, the power and frailty of female adolescence. For the past two decades, Grossmann has explored the broader social construction of gender and sexuality, and the conjoining of sexuality and consumerism.

On Grossmann's Alpha Girls, The Georgia Straight visual arts critic Robin Laurence writes:

"In these images… innocence plays against knowingness, confrontation against seduction, individuality against conformity. Budding young bodies are depicted in vulnerable states of nudity and cover, in various layers of underwear and diaphanous outerwear, suggesting the ways in which girls and women internalize the patriarchal agenda and make objects of themselves. The ghostliness of the faint, sweet faces from the past butts up against a jarring sense of the contemporary."