Becky Kolsrud

Heads and Gates
Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles, US


March 11 - April 15, 2017
installation view, Heads and Gates, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles

TIF SIGFRIDS is pleased to announce 'Heads and Gates', an exhibition of new work by Becky Kolsrud. The exhibition will open on Saturday, March 11th with a reception from 4-6 PM. The exhibition will continue through April 15th.

In this new body of work, Kolsrud continues her ongoing exploration of female portraiture. Whereas in the past, her paintings have referenced catalogues, yearbooks and stock imagery, the women represented here abstract further towards new archetypes. Two series of works, each occupying the expanse of a long wall, are presented in the gallery facing one another. A line up of cut-out heads stand in contrast to eyes peering out from behind painted gates.

In the cutout silhouettes, which the artist refers to as Double Portraits, representational painting and abstract form meet to create psychological imagery. These portraits are composed of decisive gestures of female figure, form and line. Underlying the ease of their surfaces, however, the registration of corrections and adjustments instill each portrait with a slowness and create carefully formed compositions.

Hung opposite of these 'Double Portraits' are two large paintings, each comprised of six panels, forming a wall. A repeated gate motif extends across the canvases in a grid that simulates a storefront security gate. Goofy, sexy, straitlaced and deadass, these walls actually have eyes. The many eyes emerging between the lines seem to have no setting, no space, no perspective. Once referring directly to a physical site, the gates have grown to embody the notion of simultaneously being both inside and outside of something.

Becky Kolsrud (b.1984) lives and works in Los Angeles. She received her MFA from UCLA in 2012. Her work has recently been included in group exhibitions at Foxy Production and Maccarone gallery, both in New York. Her upcoming solo exhibition at JTT Gallery (New York) will mark her third solo exhibition by the gallery, which also represents her work. Her work is in the collection of the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) and was recently acquired by the Hall Foundation.

installation view, Heads and Gates, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles
Double Portrait (Blue Eyes), 2017
oil on wood panel
23 x 12.5 in
58.5 x 32 cm
Double Portrait (Icy Blue Lips), 2017
oil on wood panel
18.5 x 18 in
47 x 45.5 cm
installation view, Heads and Gates, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles
installation view, Heads and Gates, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles
Double Portrait (Yellow), 2017
oil on wood panel
24.5 x 13 in
62 x 33 cm
Double Portrait (Plants), 2017
oil on wood panel
25 x 18 in
63.5 x 45.5 cm
Double Portrait (White teeth), 2017
oil on wood panel
24.5 x 18 in
62 x 45.5 cm
installation view, Heads and Gates, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles
Double Portrait (Tilt), 2017
oil on wood panel
24 x 12.25 in
61 x 31 cm
Double Portrait (Black Hair), 2017
oil on wood panel
22 x 15.5 in
56 x 38.5 cm
Double Portrait (Back), 2017
oil on wood panel
24.5 x 15.5 in
61.5 x 39.5 cm
installation view, Heads and Gates, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles
Double Portrait (Profile Dots), 2017
oil on wood panel
20.5 x 14.5 in
52 x 36 cm
Double Portrait (Blue Eye/Red Eye), 2017
oil on wood panel
27.5 x 16.5 in
70 x 42 cm
Double Portrait (Outline), 2017
oil on wood panel
24.5 x 13 in
62 x 33 cm
installation view, Heads and Gates, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles
Beauty, Beauty, Beauty, 2017
oil and acrylic on canvas
76 x 90.5 in
193 x 230 cm
Beauty Salon, 2017
oil and acrylic on canvas
76 x 90.5 in
193 x 230 cm
Group Portrait (Heads), 2017
oil on panel
16 x 50 in
40.5 x 127 cm