ABOUT THE ARTIST
"Libin focuses on specific floral species, red Alliums and Bell flowers, rendering these in exquisite detail. Her yen for verisimilitude, however, doesn't compromise the work's inherent abstraction. Backgrounds, delineated by strate-like bands resemblng sky or land formations, morph into suggestive worlds, microcosms of unbounded space,enchanted gardens." from an essay by Douglas Dreishpoon , Senior Curator, Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Claire Libin was born and raised in Manhattan, New York. She moved to Taos in 1995 and has lived and worked there since. The subject of her oil paintings are botanical portraits that explore themes of growth, death, decay and renewal. With their distressed, abraded surfaces, the paintings' physicality further emphasize her thematic concerns.
The delights of the garden and all its attendant pleasures--dirt on the hands, the smell of pinched mint and the first poppy blossom--share an uncanny resemblance to the visceral delights of painting. The smell of oil, the near sexual joy in squeezing paint and the satisfaction of a wet brush on canvas. Both gardening and painting also carry a sense of mystery: What blooms on the canvas is usually as surprising as the color of the tulips when they finally show their heads.
Clair Libin's show Nature isn't afraid of addressing beauty. Her own love for gardening radiates through these subtle, almost abstract oil paintings. She honors rather than replicates her flowers, trees and other vegetation. What I admire about this is that Libin risks sentimentality, yet avoids falling into its trap. "Pretty" flowers are a brave thing to tackle in our cynical art world; it takes a gardener's skill to pinch those dead blossoms, prune and let some go wild. Libin does her share. The result is a luscious series of pictures so delicate their haziness is like a summer day when you can almost hear the life of the bees. Sumac is one of the strongest in the series. The oil paint is smoothed to a sheen and the red sumac leaves glow through layers of green, umber and burnt brown. What looks faintly like a horizon line cuts the picture plane in two. Most of this show is oil on wood, but Sumac and Revolutum are painted on canvas, which gives them a softer texture.
The other strength in this show lies in its unity. It was hung with care and shows the eye of someone familiar with planning color; that Libin is also a costume designer is no small surprise. The paintings evoke the same physicality as expensive fabric unrolled from a large bolt. You want to run your hand over it, soaking in the richness.
My mother, an excellent seamstress, used to have a golden rule of dressmaking: simple pattern, top-quality fabric. Keep the lines simple and the material gorgeous. Claire Libin's work follows my mother's aesthetic. The subject matter is simple, but the medium and execution are rich. Go see for yourself. You can almost smell the moss, leaves and blossoms.
CLAIRE LIBIN - NATURE
by Christine Hemp, THE magazine, Santa Fe, NM,
October 1997, p. 47.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2005 Art Lobby Taos NM
2004 Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
2002 Jayne Gallery, Kansas City, MO
1999 Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
1997 One Ledoux Gallery, Taos, NM
1994 Bachelier-Cardonsky Gallery, Kent, CT
1991 Pan Am Building, Arts Program, New York City
1989 48 Laight Gallery, New York City
1988 48 Laight Gallery, New York City
GROUP EXHIBITIONS and GALLERY REPRESENTATION
2008 The Drawing Room, East Hampton NY
2007 Salon MaGraff Santa Fe, N.M.
Fenix Gallery, Taos, N.M.
Fresh paint, Culver City, CA
2006 Fenix Gallery, Taos ,N.M.
Sears Peyton, NYC
2005 Fenix Gallery Taos NM
Fresh paint Culver City, CA
Thomas Ingerlick Aspen, CO
Sears Peyton NYC
Thomas Ingerlick Aspen CO
2004 Fenix Gallery
Sears Peyton NYC
Thomas Ingerlick Aspen CO
Contemporary Art/Taos Harwood Museum of Art Taos NM
2003 Fenix Gallery Taos NM
Kathryn Markel NYC
2002 Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
Fresh Paint, Culver City, CA
Jayne Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2001 Lizantops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Jayne Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
Plan B, Santa Fe, NM
Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2000 Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Fresh Paint, Culver City, CA
1999 Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
One Ledoux, Taos, NM
1998 Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
One Ledoux Gallery, Taos, NM
1997 Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
One Ledoux Gallery, Taos, NM
1996 One Ledoux Gallery, Taos, NM
Taos Art Festival, Taos, NM
1993 Dru Arstark Gallery, New York City
80 Washington Square East Gallery, New York University
Bard College, Annandale, NY
1992 101 Wooster Street Gallery, New York City
1989 "To Benefit the Rain Forest," THE Gallery, New York Ci ty
48 Laight Glallery, New York City
1988 48 Laight Gallery, New York City
1987 Cable Gallery, New York City
Bond Gallery, New York City
1986 Cable Gallery, New York City
Bond Gallery, New York City
Sara Y. Rentschler Gallery, New York City
EDUCATION
1979-1981 B.F.A. School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Roy Lichtenstein Scholarship
1977-1979 Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
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