AMELIA BRIGGS

Foyer | 135 Park Ave

January 12 - March 16, 2024 | On view by appointment

Exhibition Opening

Friday, January 12, 5 – 7 PM

A new exhibition of paintings by Amelia Briggs will open on Friday January 12 from 
5 – 7 PM in Foyer, an artist run gallery space curated by Lamar Dodd School of Art Instructor Jaime Bull. Located at 135 Park Ave — in the pink house on the corner of Park and Yonah — Foyer will be open by appointment for this exhibition through Saturday, March 16, 2024.

About the exhibition 

Artist Amelia Briggs is a recent transplant to Brooklyn from Nashville. In Nashville, she produced wild soft sculptures in a detached garage behind her home that overflowed with fabrics, found objects, colorful furs, and stuffing. Her new Bushwick studio is considerably smaller — the artist now works alongside a fashion designer who recently designed a couple of red carpet looks for actress Margot Robbie; a variety of Barbie-themed bow experiments are pinned to their studio wall.

Briggs's new paintings are consequently smaller and as a result she has simplified the materials she works with, relying on oil paint on paper. The influence of her sculptural works in these new compositions is evident. Briggs paints undulating forms that weave together and then come undone — plant-like tendrils, sea creature tentacles, Medusa’s snake hair. The images are organic: manicured fingernails dissolve into a puff of smoke, intestines tie up in knots, a seashell unfurls, a birth of something new.

Reflecting on her newest paintings, the artist shares, “My work illustrates the interior landscape and the unknowable complexity that resides there.” She elaborates, “Driven by a need to seek resolution through expression after an emotional trauma, I translate feelings into sinuous forms that consider our body’s natural relationship to biology and gesture. Influenced by the psychology of body language and the study of natural systems, these forms surround, hoist, touch, caress and prop, frozen in a communion of transformation. Their subtle shifts in color demonstrate the longing for expansion while the suggestion of a border is repeated, limiting what is possible while protecting what exists.”

Amelia Briggs, Two of Me, Oil on paper, 12x16. Image courtesy of the artist.

About the artist

Amelia Briggs is a NYC-based multidisciplinary artist working between fiber, painting, and installation. She has exhibited internationally, and her work is included in collections in South Korea, Australia, Sweden, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and throughout the US. Recent publications include Forbes, The New York Times, Boston Art Review, Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, Artforum, Clever, Domino Magazine, New American Paintings, Art Maze Magazine, Surface Magazine, and Contemporary Art Review LA. Briggs has completed residencies at Wassaic Project, Monson Arts, and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Her work was recently exhibited at Art Basel with LVMH in Culture House.
 

About Foyer

Foyer is a new artist run space in Athens curated by Jaime Bull. The gallery is located in Bull’s home, a pink Victorian on the corner of Park and Yonah (135 Park Ave) and is open by appointment. Seasonal, solo exhibitions will host artists of all mediums, both local and from afar.