Bethany Czarnecki: A memory, eternal

Massey Klein Gallery is pleased to present A memory, eternal, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Bethany Czarnecki. The exhibition will be on view from September 8th through October 21st. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 9th from 4-6pm. For press inquiries or questions regarding works available, please email info@masseyklein.com.  

A memory, eternal presents a dynamic collection of new works from Bethany Czarnecki.  Building upon her repertoire of transcendentally ambiguous, yet unmistakably female forms in saturated, polychromatic hues, Czarnecki’s newest paintings incorporate jewel tones and magnified bending shapes to create immersive sensory experiences.  Employing color as a carrier of emotion, the artist’s paintings explore the evocative relationships between light and shadow while conjuring a unique sense of place.  

Created over the course of 2023, the nine paintings included in the exhibition are at once a collection of individual entities that vary in form, color, and sensorial tone; creating a harmonious ensemble that is viscerally linked. Like the title of the exhibition, the paintings are complex, personal, and abstract. They metaphorically embody the idea that while the physical expires, a memory lives on, and the works endeavor to act as tangible tokens that call upon these moments.  

Relying on established techniques and pulling from a well-developed studio practice, the exhibition pushes Czarnecki’s incredible sense of detailed and sensitive surfaces, furthering her conversation with biomorphic flora and feminine shapes.  Monochromatic works, including Verdant and Pearl, manipulate the sense of time within each painting and reference a slow and meditative presence in the studio.  Looser painterly elements, as seen in Electric Geyser and Fleur, maintain their inherent references to the female mind and body while investigating psychological aspects of emotion, energy, and sensuality.  The artist’s continued use of enveloping forms distort place, merging and disguising the physical world of landscape and figuration within the abstract world of dreamlike fantasy. 

A memory, eternal is Czarnecki’s third solo exhibition with Massey Klein Gallery. The artist previously presented splendor in the Fall of 2021 and enouement in the Spring of 2020. More recently, works by Czarnecki were presented alongside gallery artists Chrissy Angliker and Kate McQuillen at this year’s edition of Dallas Art Fair (April 20-23, 2023). Last year, Czarnecki was selected by Massey Klein Gallery for a solo presentation at Future Fair in New York City (May 4-7, 2022), where the sold out booth received a press mention in Artillery. 

Czarnecki’s work will be included in a forthcoming two-person exhibition at F2T Gallery in Milan and a solo exhibition at Public Service Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden. The artist was included in Immersed, a group exhibition curated by Jack Siebert (2023; Los Angeles, CA), a solo viewing room presentation at Night Gallery (2022; Los Angeles, CA) , a group exhibition at BOZO MAG (2022; Los Angeles, CA) and a group exhibition at Core Club (2022; New York, NY), curated by Natasha Schlesinger and Christine Mack. Her work has previously been exhibited nationally at galleries and museums, including the Katonah Museum of Art (Katonah, NY), Hollis Taggart (Southport, CT), and the Westport Art Center (Westport, CT), to name a few. Czarnecki has spoken on a number of artist panels, notably alongside Joe Amrhein and Susan Swenson of Pierogi Gallery at the Westport Art Center (2018) and with Columbia University Arts Access at Massey Klein Gallery (2020).

This year, Czarnecki was featured in New American Paintings, Northeast, Issue #164 (2023), selected by juror Leile Grothe of The Baltimore Museum of Art. The artist has additionally appeared in numerous print and online publications, including HypeBeast, Artillery, ArtPlugged, Metal Magazine, Widewalls, Elephant (where she was featured as October 2021’s ‘artist to watch’), Matrons and Mistresses, Two Coats of Paint, and ArtZealous. Her work resides in the permanent collections of Capital One Bank and Citizens Bank, in addition to several noteworthy private collections.