In process and form, the abstract paintings of Sarah Irvin explore “the abilities and limitations of the mind and the simultaneous power and shortcomings of language.” Irvin initially writes phrases derived from family memories and her daughter’s first words in ink on non-absorbent paper. She then smears the cursive text with squeegees, wiping away any meaning the signs might suggest. While traces may remain, the “hidden words” are transformed into streaks and fields of color. Repeated angular patterns similar to a folded or crumpled paper fan and spread down or across the page. Color swaths of varying translucency are punctuated by dark drips and lines of pooled ink. The smeared text illustrates the way in which memory and language form, disappear, and transform due to processes of learning, age, and disease, while the shifting forms poignantly suggest the blips, alterations, and confusion of the developing or deteriorating mind. Akin to X-rays, ultrasounds, or seismograms, Irvin’s works attempt to capture something internal and unseen.
Based in Richmond, VA, Irvin earned her MFA in Painting from George Mason University in 2016. Her works have been widely exhibited throughout the southeast and in New York and London. They are included in private and corporate collections including Capital One, the Quirk Hotel, and the University of Richmond.
Julie Wolfe’s works address “the means by which we communicate” and the ways meaning is composed. A blend of photographs, drawings, assemblages, and abstract paintings, balance realism and abstraction, the manmade and the natural, suggesting “the patterns that govern our interdependence” and the complex systems that compose the natural and human worlds. A series of photographs features mountain peaks, some oriented upside down, that have been abstracted by areas of flat gouache. Layered collages consist of text, abstract geometric shapes, and images of natural and human forms. Brightly-colored wall structures composed of smaller square units with riveted edges are pieced together in varied formations and consist of found book covers and objects, liquid samples, ink, and steel. Composed of myriad data, Wolfe’s works urge viewers to “trace their own associations and interpretations” and try to “see how we fit into a larger universal system housed by nature.”
Wolfe is a Washington, D.C.-based visual and conceptual artist whose works have been widely exhibited and collected nationally and abroad. Her work has been reviewed in BBC World News America, The Washington Post, and ARTnews. Her most recent solo exhibition was at the American University Museum in 2017.
