Snowmelt

Richard Heinrich, Yoona Hur, Carolina Jimenez, Tadaaki Kuwayama, Rakuko Naito, Francesco Simeti, Eiji Uematsu, Tetsuya Yamada

"In winter

all the singing is in

the tops of the trees

where the wind-bird

with its white eyes

shoves and pushes

among the branches.

Like any of us

he wants to go to sleep,

but he's restless—

he has an idea,

and slowly it unfolds

from under his beating wings

as long as he stays awake.

But his big, round music, after all,

is too breathy to last.

So, it's over.

In the pine-crown

he makes his nest,

he's done all he can.

I don't know the name of this bird,

I only imagine his glittering beak

tucked in a white wing

while the clouds—

which he has summoned

from the north—

which he has taught

to be mild, and silent—

thicken, and begin to fall

into the world below

like stars, or the feathers

of some unimaginable bird

that loves us,

that is asleep now, and silent—

that has turned itself

into snow."

—Mary Oliver, White-Eyes

Alison Bradley Projects is pleased to present Snowmelt, a winter group exhibition featuring works by eight artists.

Snowmelt examines a moment of transition from deep winter into the earliest moment of spring’s promise—from a near sensory deprivation to the burgeoning of life and growth. In waiting for this inevitable transformation, one witnesses the death of the natural world and endures the monotony of the season, tinged with the sense of purity of a world blanketed in white. These aspects of winter dictate a turn inward, creating space for contemplation of universal principles and a return to more elemental truths.

Snowmelt presents works from a diverse group of artists working in painting, ceramics, woodblock prints, drawing, and material. Working in languages of minimalism and abstraction, these artists encourage a variety of non-narrative experiences, akin to arriving at the precipice of the snowmelt.