Jane Manus: Linear Language

Jane Manus: Linear Language

LewAllen at the Santa Fe Railyard Santa Fe, NM, USA Friday, June 14, 2013–Sunday, July 14, 2013

Artist’s Reception: Friday, June 14 , 5 – 7PM LewAllen Galleries at the Railyard

LewAllen Galleries presents new works by geometric abstract sculptor, Jane Manus, in the upcoming exhibition Linear Language, on view at LewAllen Galleries at the Railyard from June 14 – July 14, 2013. Grounded in the aesthetic possibilities and lineage of pure geometry and architectural form, Manus is particularly acclaimed for her exploration of volumetric relationships, line, scale, and monochromatic color in aluminum sculpture. For over forty years, Manus has created evocative sculpture ranging in size from table-top and wall-mounted to monumental freestanding works.

Rendering physical manifestations of shapes in metal, Manus orchestrates form and line with both a straightforward sense of purity as well as intriguing relational complexity. Her interest is to explore themes of volumetric interplay and linear infinity, rendered with an exuberant sense of playful imagination. Her vector-like trajectories of aluminum seem to have been frozen in motion, carving for them permanence in time. Her predilection for and facility with angular and clearly defined shapes is informed by her study of modern architecture and sculptors such as David Smith and Anthony Caro. She has been termed a “late Constructivist,” related historically to forebears such as Alexander Rodchenko. Manus celebrates the monumentality and freedom of contemporary metal sculpture with an inventive elegance. “If we require an artist to throughly exhaust every matrix of stylistic possibilities, we may conclude that [Manus] has assumed an ethical obligation to continue to explore aesthetically the unfished business of Constructivism,” said Mark Price of Sculpture magazine.

Receiving a BFA from Rollins College and the Art Institute of Boston, Jane Manus had her first solo show in 1976, and has been widely exhibited in the United States, Europe, and Canada. Her work has been included in many museums and collections across the country, including Georgia Museum of Art, The Butler Institute of American Art, The Flint Institute of Art, the Lowe Art Museum and the Armory Art Center’s sculpture garden in West Palm Beach.