Janet Gorzegno - Soul Retrieval
There is a quiet, contemplative narrative in Janet Gorzegno’s most recent show at Bowery Gallery. The collection contains small, intimate works, from 3 inch squares to 18 x 9 inch rectangles, and are presented in singular and tryptic formats. In each piece, a profile of a head, with eyes open and mouth closed, is gazing outward, while a complex geometric system exists within. The head appears to be a vessel for consciousness. Each of these compositions are crafted with a carefully organized geometry that supports what seems to be a dialectic between physical and spiritual being. The physical head, represented by delicate gradations of muted colors, is the container for consciousness and spirituality, which are represented by abstract geometric shapes filled with small, poignant saturated areas of pure tone.
While the picture plane is largely muted, colorful shapes are clearly placed in specific positions with respect to the center of each piece. These hits of color are often placed along median lines, but are adjacent to the center of the painting. For instance, in “Dreaming While Awake”, the small red circle is along the vertical axis and the magenta shape is on the horizontal axis, both near but not at the center, creating a balance by offsetting the saturated colors in a very exacting way. There is no singular shape that is truly centered–though the boundaries for these regions are, which helps to create a tension between the elements in the work. These compositional features exist in many of her other works.
Additionally, her paintings seem to be consistently divided such that a smaller square at one of the corners plays a role in containing a critical piece of the story in each painting. For instance, in “Soul Searcher”, the lower left corner contains a wing, where the surface of the distant horizon just touches the top of the wing and the right side of it marks off the perimeter of a square that can be drawn around it with the corner of the painting. This is also seen in “Heavy Spirit”, where the face of the hat-like structure is in the upper left corner of the picture plane.
The artist has noted that, “Recent experiences with loss have led her to reflect on the passage of time and life’s mysteries. In a spirit of healing and restoration, she revisits the visual language of former works, pulling elements into the present, and recontextualizing her visual language.”
In that regard, “Leaving” and “Departed” differ from the others, not just in the transition from square to rectangle, but also in the gestural mark, in the direction of the profile, and in decisions around color choices. In Leaving, the profile is facing upward, looking towards the sky, and the head is open at the back. Shapes are juxtaposed with raw brush strokes and more saturated colors are mingling outside of the head, in larger shapes.
In “Departed”, Gorzegno reverses the relationship between saturated and muted color–the bright yellows take over and seem to fill in what was once a muted face. In Leaving, the shapes that were once contained in the head have now expanded and are flowing outward from the back of the head in deeper colors.
The artists writes, “The paintings invite connection. They are a conduit for contemplation on endings, awakenings, and transformation.” Janet Gorzegno: Soul Retrieval, is her sixth solo exhibition with the gallery, and will be on view from May 21 to June 15, 2024.