THE SHAPE OF PLAY
MAY 27 - JULY 24, 2023
THE SHAPE OF PLAY featured the work of MIMI YOUNG, whose witty paintings, drawings and sculptures are at once bewitching and illuminating on the subject of what it means to be an artist.
Mimi Young’s studio… click the image to go to her website.
Armed with a BFA in Drawing from Pratt Institute, Mimi’s career as a stylist allowed her to flourish in her birthplace NYC for over thirty years. However, she continuously kept her drawing and painting practice alive, eventually landing in upstate New York as a full-timer, all the while showing her work around the region.
As evidenced by these images of Mimi’s studio, her interest lies in the essential element of an artist’s practice: a sense of play. The fundamental method of Mimi’s practice is observation, and her repeated use of shapes found in nature are offset by her love of objects like a dog toy to leaven any seriousness. The nascent propulsion of these shapes - often formed by masses of chaotic but controlled line - off of the paper or canvas reaches out to the viewer as a welcoming in.
Mimi’s use of color is influenced by her long years in the fashion industry, to be sure, yet they are not trivial or superficial (as neither is fashion, in fact). In fact, her landing in fashion years ago was somewhat accidental yet it is a foundational element of her vision of the world, as is her immersion in the landscape of the Catskills. While the urban ephemera of graffiti, construction sites, people and posters continue to inform her work, the patina of life upstate provides evident inspiration these days.
