Cris Worley Fine Arts is pleased to announce the opening of Murielle White’s first solo-exhibition with the gallery, Letters from Home, showing from May 12th – June 16th. The opening reception will be on May 12th from 5:30pm-8:30pm and the artist will be present. White graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Florida with a B.F.A. in Studio Art in 2006 and went on to receive her M.F.A. from the University of North Texas in 2010. White’s M.F.A. show was held in April 2010 at 500X Gallery and the exhibition completely sold out. Soon after, she had a solo at Stella Jones in New Orleans followed by another at the Dallas Contemporary entitled Mixtîcius which was curated by Erin Cluley. She currently lives and works in Dallas, Texas.
White was born and raised in Paris, France in a culturally diverse family. Her four grandparents are from four different French colonies and territories: France, Guadeloupe, India (Pondicherry), and Vietnam (Tourane). This diverse family history is the main driving force behind her work. One of the overarching features of her large, colorful paintings is an invented script she created by mixing the four languages her family spoke. White says of her imagery, ‘I juxtapose visual elements from my cultural background to create unified, imaginary, abstract works where I can find my identity.’ The artist combines oil with mixed media because she enjoys the combination of traditional and non-traditional medium and the ‘dynamic dichotomy’ that is generated. This dichotomy is continued as White investigates her cultural history while simultaneously inventing a new language and visual world.
White was born and raised in Paris, France in a culturally diverse family. Her four grandparents are from four different French colonies and territories: France, Guadeloupe, India (Pondicherry), and Vietnam (Tourane). This diverse family history is the main driving force behind her work. One of the overarching features of her large, colorful paintings is an invented script she created by mixing the four languages her family spoke. White says of her imagery, ‘I juxtapose visual elements from my cultural background to create unified, imaginary, abstract works where I can find my identity.’ The artist combines oil with mixed media because she enjoys the combination of traditional and non-traditional medium and the ‘dynamic dichotomy’ that is generated. This dichotomy is continued as White investigates her cultural history while simultaneously inventing a new language and visual world.
Cris Worley has over a decade of expertise in the field of contemporary art. She has successfully directed two art galleries, most recently the Dallas branch of the internationally known PanAmerican Art Projects. In January 2010 she launched Cris Worley Fine Arts, a full-service art consulting and advisory firm, opening an exhibition space in Dallas, Texas shortly thereafter.
Cris represents artists of distinction and has facilitated the growth of their careers through thoughtful exhibition programming and relationship-building with curators, collectors, and critics. Whether you are a curator, collector or artist, experienced or just getting started, Cris is dedicated to assisting you in learning and achieving your goals.
Cris represents artists of distinction and has facilitated the growth of their careers through thoughtful exhibition programming and relationship-building with curators, collectors, and critics. Whether you are a curator, collector or artist, experienced or just getting started, Cris is dedicated to assisting you in learning and achieving your goals.
The transnational artist Murielle White is exhibiting her new body of work at the Brookhaven Community College Forum Gallery. Much like most of the community colleges in DFW, Brookhaven provides a space for artists to test their work in a gallery setting. White is well tested as an artist. In 2010, her upstairs show at 500X was a triumph of epic proportion. I have never seen a show in their upstairs space that simply owned the walls with energy and painting skills. She was picked up by a great gallery, Cris Worley Fine Arts, and White has been part of several group shows ever since the gallery opened. Brookhaven is like a prologue to White’s upcoming solo show at Cris Worley, so I feel that I am getting a little sneak peek at what is about to come later this year.
Her paintings are about her global experience as an artist. She layers her paint on the canvas like a historian lays stories upon time. Each symbol and shape is an important part of her personal narrative. With four grandparents from four different French colonies, White has a personal cultural experience that is global in scale. Each painting contains language, cultural objects and patterns, from her family and personal experiences. I think collage elements, abstract layering, and the layering of symbols act as memories or graffiti that cover parts of her past and creates new connections though a single painting. In particular, the symbol of the elephant has appeared prominently in some of her new work. This iconic image is painted on a graphic like line painting or silhouette. For me, White is representing the shadows of information she has gained from her grandparents experiences. Like everyone, she can only abstractly drive images from someone else's experiences.
The surface of her paintings are worth experiencing in person. There is a mixture of thick and thin that shows White attacking the canvas surface like an Abstract Expressionist pro, but unlike those transcendental/spiritual painters, White is more down to earth. Each stroke is meaningfully connected to the past. I have also noticed White has become more of a maximalist in the use of her space. She is packing in more and more shapes and brush work and allowing less minimal space. This makes for active compositions that keep my attention.
An artist that goes beyond the ideas of East and West, Murielle White paints the world of experiences on canvas. I encourage you to see the work for yourself at Brookhaven Community College Forum Gallery. The show runs until March 3rd.
Her paintings are about her global experience as an artist. She layers her paint on the canvas like a historian lays stories upon time. Each symbol and shape is an important part of her personal narrative. With four grandparents from four different French colonies, White has a personal cultural experience that is global in scale. Each painting contains language, cultural objects and patterns, from her family and personal experiences. I think collage elements, abstract layering, and the layering of symbols act as memories or graffiti that cover parts of her past and creates new connections though a single painting. In particular, the symbol of the elephant has appeared prominently in some of her new work. This iconic image is painted on a graphic like line painting or silhouette. For me, White is representing the shadows of information she has gained from her grandparents experiences. Like everyone, she can only abstractly drive images from someone else's experiences.
The surface of her paintings are worth experiencing in person. There is a mixture of thick and thin that shows White attacking the canvas surface like an Abstract Expressionist pro, but unlike those transcendental/spiritual painters, White is more down to earth. Each stroke is meaningfully connected to the past. I have also noticed White has become more of a maximalist in the use of her space. She is packing in more and more shapes and brush work and allowing less minimal space. This makes for active compositions that keep my attention.
An artist that goes beyond the ideas of East and West, Murielle White paints the world of experiences on canvas. I encourage you to see the work for yourself at Brookhaven Community College Forum Gallery. The show runs until March 3rd.
