Like a coming of age
tale, Katherine Gailer’s ‘Womanly Extended’ heralds the tune of self exploration
and realization. Monochromatic women sway to an uplifting rhythm amongst
vibrant splashes of magenta, cobalt, and red-yellow. Flowing along the slopes
of a woman’s breast, throat, and spine, Gailer’s vision is one that is overtly
feminine and pinpoints various stages of womanhood.
“I will expose female
identity beyond the parameters of what we already know.” ~Katherine Gailer
“‘Womanly Extended’ is a project that explores
the female body as a holding place of experience.” ~Katherine Gailer
Freedom. Self
Consciousness. Idealized Beauty. Sexuality. Motherhood.
Symbolic gestures mimic
feelings that expose the female body as a playground for life experience. Gailer’s
cryptic use of color to lay open or shelter the women in her paintings adds sensual
notes that are a crosscurrent throughout the series. Boldly, Gailer explores
sex as a carnal desire, inhibited shyness, or the birth of motherhood all
through a tour of the female body.
Her images mirrored much
of my journey through womanhood and I have to admit…it was startlingly
confronting. Many artists give you a beauteous visual experience or redefine
cultural questions, but few ever question your identity. To touch on the journey I
have, am, and will go through in life as a female…I commend Katherine Gailer
for her boldness.
Gailer’s exhibit will
be on view at The Brunswick Street Gallery alongside other notable artists in a
joint showing that I strongly recommend experiencing and absorbing for yourself…
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