Annie Bielski, “Joes & Anns,” April 6-May 3, 2019

Lead image courtesy of Nando Alvarez-Perez

Exhibition Catalog, Annie Bielski and Obsidian Bellis

Bielski works across mediums, using painting, sewing, and writing to construct objects that explore the hierarchies of gender, production, and consumption, while noting ways that these structures flow through both retail and art spaces. Using materials of both industrial and domestic spaces like canvas, curtains, towels, tarps, bricks and polyethylene, Bielski also plays with the dichotomy of commercial and cultural presentation.

In “Joes & Anns,” Bielski un-constructs and reconstructs her materials, using gestural seams bearing the flaws of heavy pedal foot. She sews with a joyful abandon that results in puckers and pockets that serve her composition. The unstructured wall pieces often allude to figures and garments whereas the stretched canvases recall the abstract expressionists of the last century. By placing these objects together in the gallery, she draws attention the economic and cultural disparity in the often gendered labor that produces each.

Annie Bielski is an artist, writer, and performer. She currently lives and works in Buffalo, NY and is a MFA candidate at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). She received a BFA with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited in cities like Portland, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Mexico City.

Press

“REVIEW: Annie Bielski, “Joes & Anns” at Buffalo Arts Studio” by Nando Alvarez Perez, BICA Blog

“Obsidian Bellis, Apothecary for Sis at Buffalo Arts Studio” by Zainab Saleh as featured in The Public