Buster Levi Gallery is pleased to present Jenne Currie/pat hough 2024 at 121 Main Street in Cold Spring, New York. The exhibition will run from July 12 to August 4, 2024. There will be an opening reception for the artists on Friday July 12 from 6-8 pm.

Currie and hough are essentially abstract artists whose work grows out of personal involvement with collage. While Currie, who alternates between paper collage, wood relief and welded steel, tends to favor cleaner shapes to punctuate her space, hough’s painted collages  utilize a variety of marks to convey energy. Currie also favors an open, to some extent floating approach to arrangement, hough contains her compositions within the structure of loosely delineated vertical parameters. Both artists share an interest in positive and negative space through the dynamic interaction between shapes and compositional rhythms. Currie and hough also employ dramatic contrasts in tonal value that are used to emphasize rhythm and movement. Below are statements from each artist. 

Jenne Currie:

 The various mediums I work in, and there are many, have all been created through the act of cutting, assembling, arranging and rearranging until the balance between positive and negative space reaches a dynamic place. Whether working with paper, wood or steel, the process is similar. Each shape I cut and place next to another creates an exciting new form- the space in between. The exact placement and balance of my shapes is critical in any composition. As I manipulate my design through the physical act of moving shapes around a given space, I watch what happens with the rhythms and balance. Too much weight in one corner and the work becomes unbalanced. Too little and it becomes static and lackluster. Working with cut wood in low relief and working with cut paper collages present very similar challenges where I am layering shape over shape as well as creating dynamic rhythms and an exciting variety of forms. In all my works in this exhibit, whether steel, wood, paper or a combination of materials, bits of color are added only for accent, allowing the contrast of tonal values to tell the story. 

pat hough: 

My collages are about time and space in abstract compositions.Vertical and horizontal lines create a basic sense of structure. The wide arrays of shape and color create dynamic areas of focus. Along the way there are always choices to make. What kind of weight do I want, what kind of space, what kind of touch, what kind of light? How dense do I want them to be? What kind of rhythm? Touch is the most important of these qualities. The sense of touch creates the heart and soul of the work. The interaction of all of these qualities create the dualities that become the staging area of the compositions. Opacity and transparency, push and pull. Creating a dynamic relationship between background and foreground. This exploratory process creates the structure of the collages. I set some very basic intentions for the work but try to keep my hand one step ahead of my brain. Focusing instead on that intuitive first thought for inspiration and staying completely committed at every stage of the process. My collages are meant to be abstract adventures. Finding new ways of seeing familiar things. Influenced by the organic order of nature and the work of great artists from past and present.

The gallery will be open Fridays through Sundays from noon to five pm.

For more information: busterlevigallery.com.

Artist Websites: Jenne Currie

Instagram: Jenne Currie pat hough