An Abstracted View III

J. Rinehart Gallery</a> is delighted to announce our first exhibition, by artist and educator, Amanda Knowles. Knowles’ exhibition, Collected Views, documents metropolitan areas, deconstructing and reimagining elements of our built environment.</p><p>Wandering Seattle, New York City, and Mexico City, Knowles creates abstracted outlooks, acknowledging the building, growth and life in a city.</p><p>Using printmaking techniques, collage, mixed media, and <a target="_blank" href=https://www.mutualart.com/Exhibition/An-Abstracted-View-III/"/Artist/Amanda-Knowles/95EB869743762E73">photographs Knowles</a> documents what happens in urban infrastructure and how this interweaves with the understanding and feeling of a sense of place.&nbsp;</p><p>Of her work Knowles states “Place has a profound effect. The work in this show is based specifically in my wanderings in Seattle, NYC, and Mexico City while also including memories of other cities and the machinations of my flitting mind. These works show the city through a collaged and new perspective. Little in these pieces shows the actuality of any specific space.”&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>" />

Adelman marks a new chapter in her ongoing exploration of constructed identity, radical empathy, and a fragmented self. As Adelman’s work demonstrates, the boundaries between the self and the external world are anything but fixed. With a painterly approach that is both sensual and aggressive, she stretches traditional forms, challenging viewers to confront the instability of perception and the way images, symbols, and iconographies are deeply shaped by personal experience and cultural forces.</p><p>Matthew Kangas, art critic and curator, writes that the titular piece “encapsulates the artist’s unique conglomeration of autobiography, literature, and art history.” For example, Adelman engages directly with an iconic image—Madonna of the Chancellor Rolin by Jan van Eyck—and in her hands, as Kangas notes, “the Old Master picture is topsy-turvy, fair game for a wacky puzzle of shapes and symbols, all the better to enjoy deciphering and to simply behold its rich painterly execution and impeccable composition.”</p><p>Adelman’s use of paint as both a liquid and sculptural material speaks to the fluidity of human experience. The marks she makes on the canvas, constantly shifting and building upon one another, mirror the process of self-discovery and the search for meaning in an ever-changing world. In each piece, the act of painting itself becomes a practice of radical empathy, as Adelman “walks within the skin of a person, an object, a space, or a historical practice,” capturing the complexity of each individual moment that defines us.</p><p><br></p>" />

work by A-M Petersons</a>, embraces geometric shapes and vibrant color palettes in a bold, new approach for the artist. Incorporating watercolor techniques on larger canvases, the series represents an evolution in both form and concept.</p><p>Rooted in personal history, Patterns of Identity delves into the lifelong process of self-discovery. Raised in Toronto, Canada, Petersons grew up immersed in stories of her family’s past in Latvia. An active participant in North American Latvian cultural events, the artist recalls wearing a traditional folk costume—an experience imbued with both “pride and heaviness”.</p><p>The exhibition is inspired by Petersons’ recent research, uncovering narratives that both align with and challenge the stories of her upbringing, and the study of traditional Latvian folk costumes, historically worn during festivals and significant events. Each region of Latvia boasts its own unique designs, reconstructed today using ethnographic research. The varying degrees of historical accuracy in these reconstructions mirror the evolving truths within family histories.</p><p>Through a dynamic interplay of color, form, and cultural symbolism, this series reflects the artist’s ongoing journey of reading, processing, and understanding her ancestry. The works serve as a visual dialogue between past and present, tradition and reinterpretation, truth and memory.</p><p><br></p>" />