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Tinney Contemporary presents Stealing Stories by Patricia Bellan-Gillen

Presented by Tinney Contemporary at Tinney Contemporary

March 26-May 13, 2011

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Tinney Contemporary is pleased to present Stealing Stories Mixed media drawings, prints, and paintings by Patricia Bellan-Gillen.

Writer, Paul Krainak described Patricia Bellan-Gillen's recent work as, "Formalist canon meets zoological illustration, penetrated by medieval spiritualism and glossed with with personal dream imagery."

The artist adds, “After years of studying cultural, dream, mythological and religious symbols, I am beginning to believe that the most interesting signs are the images that appear and keep pressing on one’s mind with no explanation—unexpected images that flash across the brain when phrases like “war by proxy,” “turn to salt” or “separation of church and state” are heard. …or the nascent compositions that appear while revisiting the “Spy vs. Spy” pages of vintage Mad Magazine or hearing the familiar Da-Da-DaDa-DaDa theme song from the Rocky and Bullwinkel Show. Honoring these puzzling visages maps the direction that I have begun to follow in my paintings, prints and drawings. In very simple terms, I want to make work that combines ideas and imagery generated through study and research with ideas and imagery that are felt, intuitive and enigmatic. “

This current body of work continues to build on the use of imagery that suggests a narrative, remixes our stories and attempts to engage the viewer’s associative responses: imagery that is at once forgotten but familiar. The work also celebrates a return to drawing—the sheer love of the fundamental act of working with the most direct and basic materials.

Bellan-Gillen’s paintings, prints and drawings have been the focus of over 35 solo exhibitions across the U. S., including venues in Washington DC, Chautauqua, NY, Las Cruces, NM, Albany, NY, Bloomington, IL, Nashville, TN and Portland, OR. Her work has been included in numerous group shows in museums, commercial galleries, university galleries, and alternative spaces. Venues have included: Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, Chelsea Museum of Art, New York, NY, Florida International University Museum of Art, Miami, FL, Frans Masreel Centrum, Belgium, and the Tacoma Museum of Art, Tacoma, WA. Most recently, Stealing Stories, New Drawings by Patricia Bellan-Gillen was shown in the Tucker S. Cooke Gallery at the University of North Carolina/Asheville and her work was awarded Best of Show in The Great Lakes Drawing Biennial at Eastern Michigan University. Her drawings will be included in upcoming exhibitions: Large-Scale Drawings, UMW Gallery, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA and Gertrude’s Lot, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA. 

Patricia Bellan-Gillen lives in rural Burgettstown, Pennsylvania adjacent to the West Virginia border. She is the Dorothy L. Stubnitz Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where she has taught foundation drawing, printmaking, painting and Concept Studios since 1986. In 2000, the university honored her with the Ryan Award for Excellence in Teaching.