Basel | ArtRegion: Basel - Oberrhein

von Bartha

Marina Adams: Deep breathing

8. Juli – 25. September 2021

Art Basel Week Hours (10-16 June 2024): Marina Adams Tue 9-21 | Wed-Fri 9-18 | Sat 10-16 ★Tue 18-21

Von Bartha is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new work by American artist Marina Adams in the gallery’s S-chanf space, 8 July – 25 September 2021. Deep Breathing is Adams’ first solo exhibition at the S-chanf gallery and features three large paintings created in 2021. The works in Deep Breathing expand on an earlier series of works created in collaboration with the poet Norma Cole.

Deep Breathing will showcase three new acrylic paintings on linen canvas: Mountain Love, Manhattan and the Moon and Crow Dance. Measuring almost 2 metres in size (173cm x 147cm), the large works centre around the idea of space, color, and depth. Breathwork informs Adams’ strong belief in the advertent nature of impactful painting—there is a lively animation to her paintings, similar to the fluidness of motion a yogi demonstrates; moving with an acquired ease that all begins with the initial inhale. For Adams, “great paintings have great breath,” a notion which references Picasso’s statement on Matisse—that he had “big lungs” acknowledging the great sense of air, light and space in his color. The title of the show Deep Breathing has gained a deeper resonance in the last year, as the words “I can’t breathe” gained further significance during the Black Lives Matter protests which shook the world.