Press Release

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=22 BGCOLOR="#BF0000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=145 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=458 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>Abigail Stern (aka Carrington)</I></FONT> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#663399" FACE="Times New Roman" >   </FONT> |    <B> </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Abigail Stern (aka Carrington)"><B>home</B></A></FONT></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ae07040.png" border=0 width="263" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Press Release</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ABIGAIL STERN </div> <bR> <div> “IN-SIGHT-FULL TRANSFIGURATIONS” DECEMBER 2 - JANUARY 3, 2006</div> <bR> <div> This collection of character studies marks Abigail Stern’s graceful transition from the abstract to the figurative realm, exhibiting the same temporal qualities as her previous masterpieces. Each portrait is a frozen moment in time, captured and displayed for us all to see like a Polaroid photograph. But they are not simply painted photographs. If these works are captured moments, they are captured midway through the developing process, giving them not only a filmic quality, but also a sense of immediacy. We are not simply looking at a photo snapped long ago—we are right there at the scene; with one hand, we hold the camera—with the other, we hold the developing photo up to our eye to watch. Ms. Stern shines her artistic spotlight on the familiar and the unfamiliar stars of popular culture. These are not ambiguous figures but rather strong visual personalities who strike dramatic poses. Her paintings reflect the evolving states of film stars, rather than portraying them as glamorous, stylized icons. They are presented as accessible figures, unpretentious and available, casually attired and made-up.</div> <div> In these works, Ms. Stern compiles multiple layers of thinly applied translucent acrylics on rigid graphite panels, creating a brilliantly soft gradation of muted color. Like the soft translucent layers juxtaposed with graphite panels, she wraps casual clothes around celebutante poses. Ms. Stern brings to this new figurative territory the same sensitive and subdued palette so carefully at play in her abstract works. Like her previous work, her latest endeavor carries forward her characteristic harmony of color, rhythm, complexity, and restraint. And with this harmony comes the delicate tension between warm and cold, hard and soft, surface and depth, and artifice and nature at play in all of her work. </div> <bR> <div> Ms. Stern’s work has been exhibited extensively in the Northeast, both in New York and Maine, as well as internationally at the Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arab Emirates.</div> <bR> <div> Ruthie Tucker</div> <bR> <div> Amsterdam Whitney Gallery</div> <div> 511 West 25th Street, Chelsea</div> <div> New York, NY 10001</div> <div> ph: 212.255.9050</div> <div> f: 212.255.9020</div> <div> AmsterdamWhitney@aol.com</div> <div> www.AmsterdamWhitneyGallery.com</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>