Staff Picks 2021

Our Faves

The staff of Zane Bennett Contemporary Art shares their favorite works on paper from the collection. Whether an artwork conjured a golden memory or sparked excitement for what's to come in the New Year, these are our 2021 picks.

FEATURED ARTISTS:

Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh, Olafur Eliasson, Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Gilliam, Jiha Moon, Louise Nevelson
Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh, Kiss Cross, 2006

Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh, Kiss Cross, 2006
Rebecca Bernstein, Sales
Ghada Amer’s stunning surfaces dotted by embroidery stitches and walls of flowing thread captivated my attention in 2021. Kiss Cross invites the viewer into a warm, heartfelt moment, a cheerful respite from the past couple of years. Here’s to more affection and craft-influenced prints in the New Year!
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Jiha Moon, Take Out, 2013

Jiha Moon, Take Out, 2013
Jordan Eddy, Gallery Director
Jiha Moon’s Take Out is delicious—no pun intended. The work’s bright palette and quotidian subject matter are magnetic entry points to a complex set of ideas. Moon invites us to consider cross-cultural symbolism through her eyes, offering insights that can be playful or dark. I’m particularly enamored with Take Out because the dimensional lithograph could also fit within the art/craft/design universe of our sister gallery, form & concept.
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Louise Nevelson, Meditation at Noon, 1979

Louise Nevelson, Meditation at Noon, 1979
Isabella Beroutsos, Sales
There is a striking balance between texture and delicacy in this lithograph. Though Louise Nevelson is best-known for her large, wooden sculptural installations typically painted black, Meditation at Noon demonstrates the artist’s intimate understanding of texture on a lighter, two-dimensional plane. The doily and crinkled tarlatan sharply contrasts with soft tones below, offering a viewing experience both tangible and ethereal.
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Sam Gilliam, Adamo #5, 1995

Sam Gilliam, Adamo #5, 1995
Austin Armstrong, Sales & Marketing
Sam Gilliam’s work employs color and form with an expansiveness that very few artists can manage with such elegance. Adamo #5 translates these elements into a print that holds the space and vibrance of Gilliam’s installation paintings. As a trained printer, I greatly admire Gilliam and his collaborating printers for creating a wall-hanging work that seems to transcend its two-dimensional limitations.
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Olafur Eliasson, Your reversed Berlin sphere, 2016

Olafur Eliasson, Your reversed Berlin sphere, 2016
Marissa Fassano, Communications & Curatorial
Eliasson is a master at positing atmosphere and pulling memory! This work takes me straight back to my tiny (and I mean tiny!) Parisian garret apartment… the best thing about it was looking out the (also tiny) window at all times of day and night, viewing the city and rooftops and even peeping into windows occasionally. Plus Berlin is the new Paris.
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Helen Frankenthaler, Causeway, 2001

Helen Frankenthaler, Causeway, 2001
Brad Hart, Operations
Causeway by Helen Frankenthaler is a spit-bite aquatint etching that captures the style of her paintings and is a perfect example of the print technique. It is proof of the magic that can be accomplished when artist and print shop collaborate, and that's why it's my favorite piece in the collection for the second year in a row!
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