Secret Harmonies

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is pleased to present Secret Harmonies, an installation of new porcelain sculptures by Monica Banks. This is her second solo exhibition with the gallery. Banks' porcelain botanical sculptures take over The Pocket Gallery in this room-sized installation. Modeling from life, she creates delicate, detailed portraits of flowers in various stages of life. Randomly hung, as if in motion, the artist thinks of them as, "though they had blown in from the garden." They float on the wall as if weightless and their muted glazing adds a soft, almost wispyness to the solid ceramic forms. Banks sculpts to scale and observes one subject multiple times, effectively creating snapshots of its brief lifespan as it buds, blossoms, wilts, and dies. The installation serves as a three dimensional chronograph, where one can trace a bloom's journey from bud to decay. This process, "is an attempt to portray the logic and imperfections of blossoms." She adds in non botanical elements from her previous tableware series such as forks, spoons, ladders, and buttons to incorporate subconscious associations into this subject matter. A touch of surrealism enters the work in some pieces as petals emerge from stemmed tableware as they swirl amidst the flowers. Banks' inclusion of these also places her work firmly in still life tradition; a wild vanitas of sorts. Monica Banks is based in East Hampton, NY and has been exhibiting sculpture and creating site-specific installations since 1989. She has exhibited at the New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; The Heckscher Museum of Art, NY; The Carriage House at Islip Art Museum, NY; The Center for Architecture, NYC; The Arkell Museum, NY; The Church Sag Harbor, NY; among others. Her work is held in permanent collections of The Parrish Art Museum, NY; UMCA at the University of Massachusetts, The Islip Art Museum, NY; LongHouse Reserve, NY; The Leiber Collection, NY; Peter Marino Art Foundation, NY; The Masur Museum of Art, LA; and the Catherine Konner Sculpture Park, NY. She won an award from the NYC Public Design Commission for "Faces: Times Square," a block-long sculpture which stood in Times Square from 1996-2009. Banks has created permanent public works in the Bronx, NY; Binghamton, NY; and Charlotte, NC.