Charline von Heyl

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHARLINE von HEYL
March 2 – April 6, 1996
Opening reception: Thursday, March 2, 6-8 pm

Friedrich Petzel Gallery is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition of works by Charline von Heyl. The show opens on Saturday, March 2 and continues through April 6. This will be von Heyl's first solo exhibition in New York.

The current exhibition consists of five large oil canvases. Her semi-abstract compositions of fractured forms develop a hypnotic tension. Elevated by her use of vociferous color, the paintings are organized in such a manner that the viewer slides back and forth trying to "work" through suggestions of faces, bodies and landscapes. Von Heyl's interest in the mechanics of painting is highly rhetorical: gestural marks in dialogue with loose drippings and geometric forms underscore the tropes of painting in both its historical precedents and present possibilities.

"Von Heyl mines our conscious and unconscious repertoire of images, enriching them with references at the level of form as well as content. The boundary in her pictures between the real and the surreal is fluid, offering the viewer a space in which to dream."

For further questions, please call Lisa Dent at (212) 334 9466.