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Erin Cone
- Adieux
- Liminal
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Introduction
Bio
Exhibitions
Publications
Links
Abstract figures in the paintings of Erin Cone
Graceful female figures displayed from the side, back, and front. Sometimes a woman’s tilted head is truncated; sometimes a shoulder disappears from the frame. The rich colors of the figures are muted by a drop of subdued background. Details are painstakingly added and yet have an abstract effect when seen as a whole.
Since her first solo exhibition in a gallery in 2003, the painter Erin Cone from Texas (b. 1976) has been a best kept secret among striving young artists. She has celebrated her success in many solo and group exhibitions in the USA and her work can be found in multiple collections around the world. Critics are fascinated by her unique new interpretations of traditional, figurative painting, and her subtle play with forms of realism. She experiments with dark-light contrasts, limited ranges of color, and the contradictions of true to life representation and graphic stylization.
The methods Erin Cone use to achieve this result are very complex. In seeking her motif, she makes sketches of poses, gestures, and details. These then become the basis for photographs (generally of herself, but sometimes of models as well). The final search for composition occurs intuitively. Through experimentation, Erin Cone finds the right combination of individual elements. “It’s more about the visual effect than the story content, that’s why I concentrate on the subtle placement of the subjects within the frame,” said Erin Cone, describing her experiences. “I intentionally create a tension between near photographic detail and my own vocabulary of visual disturbance, subverting realism. This duality is central to my work and allows the figures I paint to be both concrete and abstract – calling forth emotion without pinning the emotion down.”
Once the composition has been determined, Cone otherwise continues very traditionally: sketches on the canvas, filled with layers of color, in some cases allowing for changes during the painting process. The result is such impressive pictures as Allure, the abstract-realist portrait/non-portrait of a young woman in a red dress: a formally elegant equilibrium of rigidity and tense movement; a successful mélange of abstract minimalism and figurative realism.
Geraldine Blum
Graceful female figures displayed from the side, back, and front. Sometimes a woman’s tilted head is truncated; sometimes a shoulder disappears from the frame. The rich colors of the figures are muted by a drop of subdued background. Details are painstakingly added and yet have an abstract effect when seen as a whole.
Since her first solo exhibition in a gallery in 2003, the painter Erin Cone from Texas (b. 1976) has been a best kept secret among striving young artists. She has celebrated her success in many solo and group exhibitions in the USA and her work can be found in multiple collections around the world. Critics are fascinated by her unique new interpretations of traditional, figurative painting, and her subtle play with forms of realism. She experiments with dark-light contrasts, limited ranges of color, and the contradictions of true to life representation and graphic stylization.
The methods Erin Cone use to achieve this result are very complex. In seeking her motif, she makes sketches of poses, gestures, and details. These then become the basis for photographs (generally of herself, but sometimes of models as well). The final search for composition occurs intuitively. Through experimentation, Erin Cone finds the right combination of individual elements. “It’s more about the visual effect than the story content, that’s why I concentrate on the subtle placement of the subjects within the frame,” said Erin Cone, describing her experiences. “I intentionally create a tension between near photographic detail and my own vocabulary of visual disturbance, subverting realism. This duality is central to my work and allows the figures I paint to be both concrete and abstract – calling forth emotion without pinning the emotion down.”
Once the composition has been determined, Cone otherwise continues very traditionally: sketches on the canvas, filled with layers of color, in some cases allowing for changes during the painting process. The result is such impressive pictures as Allure, the abstract-realist portrait/non-portrait of a young woman in a red dress: a formally elegant equilibrium of rigidity and tense movement; a successful mélange of abstract minimalism and figurative realism.
Geraldine Blum
1976 | Born in Lubbock, Texas, USA |
1998 | Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting, University of Texas, Austin, Texas |
Lives and works in Santa Fe, USA |
Collections (Selection)
Department of Cultural Affairs/New Mexico Arts Permanent Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico | |
Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Washington, D.C. | |
The Tullman Collection, Chicago, Illinois | |
Standard Chartered Bank, London, UK |
Solo Exhibitions (Selection)
Group Exhibitions (Selection)
2014 | Modiste, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA |
2013 | Desiderata, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA |
2012 | Theory of Forms, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA |
2012 | Ingenue, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco USA |
2011 | Denouement, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA |
2010 | Passages, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, USA |
2009 | Blessed Unrest, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA |
2008 | Possible Outcomes, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco,USA |
2008 | Departure, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, USA |
2007 | Synchronicity, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA |
2006 | Secrets, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, USA |
2005 | 3, Andreeva Gallery, Santa Fe, USA |
2005 | Erin Cone: 5th Annual Show, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, USA |
2004 | Transformation, Seven-o-seven Contemporary, Santa Fe, USA |
2004 | Interval, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, USA |
2003 | Configuration, Seven-o-seven Contemporary, Santa Fe, USA |
Group Exhibitions (Selection)
2013 | 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, USA |
2012 | Distilled Memory, Decorazon Gallery, London, UK |
2011 | In Portrait, Blank Space Gallery, New York City, USA |
2010 | Gallery Artists, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton, USA |
2009 | Artist’s Choice, Principle Gallery, Alexandria, USA |
2008 | Inaugural Exhibit, MMFA, Palm Desert, USA |
2007 | 9th Annual Realism Invitational, Jenkins-Johnson Gallery, New York City, USA |
2006 | Small Works, Principle Gallery, Alexandria, USA |
2005 | Self Portraits by Contemporary Masters, Andreeva Gallery, Santa Fe, USA |
Books/Catalogs (Selection)
2013 | Nova Magazine, May 2013 |
2012 | Architectural Digest Magazine, July 2012 |
Poets & Artists Magazine, June 2012 | |
Professional Artist Magazine, May 2012 | |
2010 | New American Paintings, October 2010 |
Poets & Artists Magazine, August 2010 (Cover Artist) | |
American Art Collector, June 2010 | |
2008 | Southwest Art Magazine, September 2008 (Cover Artist) |
Art Calendar Magazine, January 2008 (Cover Artist) | |
2006 | American Art Collector, October 2006 (Cover Artist) |
2005 | Southwest Art Magazine. November 2005 |
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