Judy Pfaff

MACARTHUR Foundation Gives $500,000 'Genius Awards' to 23
New York Times - New York,NY,USA
... marine roboticist; Tommie Lindsey, a high school debating coach; Maria Mavroudi, a philologist; Vamsi Mootha, a physician and researcher; Judy Pfaff, a sculptor ...

LIST of 2004 MacArthur Foundation fellows [Hold For Release until ...
Ohio News Network - Columbus,OH,USA
... _ Judy Pfaff, 58, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY Pfaff is an artist who works to make paintings more three-dimensional and sculptures more painterly. ...

RECENT WORK

July 10 - September 24, 2004

Bellas Artes is pleased to present its sixth exhibition for Judy Pfaff. In addition to the installation Jardin de los Cuervos which remains on view in the sculpture garden, Pfaff has created a new type of work, constructions of various materials which jut out from the wall several inches. In her shows at Bellas Artes since the early 90s, Pfaff's two-dimensional works have been layered, mixed media works contained in the artist's frame which becomes part of the work. These new, unframed constructions are related to her installations and past wall reliefs which projected far into a space.

London born and Yale educated, Judy Pfaff has been known since the 1970s for her spontaneous and chaotic installations with a painterly sensibility, made of industrial and natural materials. Characteristic of her work, her public art commission, cirque CIRQUE, evokes the heavens across 700,000 square feet of space at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, formerly the Reading Railroad Terminal in Philadelphia.

The new constructions are discrete works of art except for the largest work, Tsubo, 103 x 162 x 6 inches. Pfaff made various parts from different materials (bamboo, hosho paper, ink, wood, gauze, formica) in her studio, making final decisions about assembly in the gallery in the same manner as when making her site-specific environments.

The top section of Tsubo (courtyard garden in Japanese), with Pfaff's characteristic grids, refers to the floor plan of an old house in Kyoto with many interior courtyards. Pfaff, having spent the last two years restoring a Victorian house, feels possessed by the house. The left side of Tsubo refers to the Victorian house and wallpaper juxtaposed with references to Japanese architecture and gardens on the right. She likens the work to a musical composition or personal narrative which combines her interest in the East and the West.

Pfaff has exhibited worldwide and has works in major museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum and the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo. She represented the United States at the 24th Sao Paolo Bienal in 1998, where she constructed a large-scale, site-specific installation. The monograph Judy Pfaff by Irving Sandler was recently released by Hudson Hills Press.

CHAPEL AND BROOK

August 13 - September 14, 2002

We are pleased to announce that Judy Pfaff was recently awarded the medal for sculpture by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York. This award is given only every six years.

The work which was exhibited at the Academy of Arts and Letters through June 9th will be included in Pfaff's fifth exhibition at Bellas Artes. This new body of mixed media works on paper was inspired by Pfaff's move to a Second Empire Victorian house on the corner of Chapel and Brook. Hence, the title of the exhibition. The restoration of the Victorian house began Pfaff's involvement with that era. She has used images from plaster, tin and brickwork from the house as well as other Victorian patterns in her new work.

London born and Yale educated, Judy Pfaff has been known since the 1970s for her spontaneous and chaotic installations with a painterly sensibility, made of industrial and natural materials. Characteristic of her work, her public art commission "cirque, Cirque" evokes the heavens across 70,000 square feet of space at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

Pfaff has exhibited worldwide and has works in major museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum and the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo. She represented the United States at the 24th Sao Paulo Bienal in 1998, where she constructed a large-scale, site-specific installation.