571 Projects presents a special exhibition of Dorothy Simpson Krause' most recent body of work, River of Grass, in conjunction with a live performance of Sheetflow Songs, an extended cycle of songs without words by Peter Flint and Ben Kaplan. Sheetflow Songs is a musical collaboration between composer Peter Flint and guitarist Ben Kaplan that responds to Krause' work, inspired by the disappearing landscapes of Florida's Everglades. In addition to the full performance of Sheetflow Songs, Flint will perform selected works for the accordion in collaboration with Kaplan. A selection of Krause' luminous mixed media landscapes will be on view, and are available for purchase.
Originally performed at 571 Projects in New York City in 2012, Sheetflow Songs blends accordion, used both naturally and with electronic processing, with guitars and synthesizers into an ambient, transporting, and ultimately deeply affecting meditation on the character of natural landscapes and their increasing disappearance and rarity. 'Sheetflow' is a term referring to the broad, wide, slow, shallow flow of water through the Everglades, and in a loose way the music in this performance mirrors this slow, massive flowing. For Kaplan, whose background is in post-metal music, and for Flint, coming from a classical tradition, this is a significant stylistic departure that takes both performers into new and unexpected musical territory.
River of Grass marks Krause' return to her deep environmentalist concerns, exploring here the rich landscapes of the Florida Everglades with her unique blend of cutting edge digital processes and traditional art making methods. Krause renders the captivating beauty and shifting light using both organic substrates (linen canvas, wood panel) and inorganic substrates (aluminum panel), with painting and image transfer. From the serenely contemplative Misty River (2011, pigment transfer with mixed media on aluminum, 36 x 36 in.) to the somberly brooding Dark (2011, pigment transfer with mixed media on aluminum, 24 x 24 in.), Krause' landscapes draw the viewer into a world defined by sky, water, luxuriant vegetation and reflections. Where the Hudson River painters of the 1800s saw the sublime in the American wilderness, under threat even then, Krause draws out a powerful, all-encompassing spirituality as she at once captures a fragile beauty and underlines its inevitable vulnerability.
Krause is Professor Emeritus at Massachussetts College of Art where she founded the Computer Arts Center, and is a member of Digital Atelier, an artists' collaborative. Her work has won many awards including the Smithsonian/Computerworld Technology in the Arts Award (1997), and the Kodak Innovator Award (2000). Her work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including Evos Arts Institute (Lowell, MA), The Attleboro Museum of Art (Attleboro, MA), The Judi Rotenberg Gallery (Boston, MA), and The Landing Gallery (Rockland, ME). Her work is in many museum collections including The Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Dalarna Museum (Dalarna, Sweden); The Smithsonian Museum of American Art (Washington, DC); Art Complex Museum (Duxbury, MA); State Museum (Novosibirsk, Russia); The DeCordova Museum (Lincoln, MA); and The Danforth Museum of Art (Framingham, MA). Krause was selected as the inaugural Helen M. Salzburg Artist-in-Residence at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University (2012).
