Exhibition
in Saint Augustine, FL / United States
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- Ann Toebbe: Playdate, 2016, graphite and colored pencil on paper, 20 x 24 inches
In her third solo exhibition at Monya Rowe Gallery, Ann Toebbe continues her engagement with the room as a subject in a new suite of drawings.
Each of the rooms depicted are formally arranged and absent of figures. Toebbe’s focus is on what we don’t see. And yet, we are given a lot to see. The viewer’s eyes voyeuristically meander around the rooms’ contents looking for clues about who might live there. Insignificant objects become signifiers. We begin to project our own subconscious memory. As human beings, we have a desire to want meaning. Meaning in the choices we make in life and meaning in the things around us, but objects don’t possess meaning until we invest them with it.
Like Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944), Toebbe has a penchant for documenting the immediate interior surroundings of herself and those close to her. “Room Air Conditioner” (2016) depicts the artist’s childhood family room in the late 1970’s. “Playdate” (2016), a contemporary home, is centered around children’s drawings and a pile of Legos scattered on the floor. Without using photographs, each room is recreated solely from memory or recollection. Toebbe reconstructs the past, extracting details, thus questioning how we remember. The ordinary – a pillow collection, tchotchkes, family photographs – is transformed into the poetic allowing for the viewer to deduce new meaning. The past becomes our future.
Ann Toebbe received a MFA from Yale University, CT and a BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art, OH. She also received a scholarship from DAAD, Universität der Kunst, Berlin, Germany in 2005, and was awarded a residency at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME in 2000. In 1995, Toebbe participated in the NY Studio Program at Parson’s School of Design. Her work has recently been exhibited in group exhibitions at The Suburban, Milwaukee; Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago; Josh Lilley Gallery, London; The Elmhurst Museum of Art, Chicago; and Monya Rowe Gallery. Her solo exhibition at Monya Rowe Gallery in 2015 was reviewed in The New York Times and included in New York Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Shows of the Year”. Toebbe lives and works in Chicago, IL.
Gallery hours Mon-Wed by appointment, Thur-Sat noon – 6 pm, Sun noon – 5 pm
Location:
Monya Rowe Gallery
4 Rohde Avenue
32084 Saint Augustine, FL
United States
