CYCLES, 2005
Artist flipbook – four prints, four seasons in four positions. Digital prints, acetate, laminated, black PVC binding, edition of 16, 4.25 x 6.25 x 1.25 inches. $300
Statement
These four linoleum block prints were made during a recent trip to Andalucía, Spain. The prints were cut and hand printed by the artist on Japanese paper during a residency at the Fundación Valparaíso in Mojácar, Spain in July of 2009. In this series Neal responds to the geometrical patterns and organic forms of Moorish architectural details at the Alhambra by depicting bold totemic images ensconced in oscillating shapes of water, blood, fire, light and dark. The blocks and these recent prints managed to escape the Mojácar wild fire on the 24th of July.
Florence Neal activates her prints with movement to depict graphic black and white images that seem on the edge of transformation. She is interested in the thin line between balance and chaos and the ways in which these opposites seem to dance on the verge of becoming the other. Light-filled lines leave rhythmic traces of the cutting process as shapes referencing nature, architecture and the human form, emerge and recede. Each print is formed individually, sometimes becoming part of a larger series.
Neal’s print installation. “Cycles”, invites the viewer to become immersed in the movement of the revolving sixteen prints. “Meta-Forest”, consists of four 8′ x 3′ prints on Japanese paper with alternating calligraphic squares and hung in an architectural skylight space of the Brooklyn Polytechnic University Library. Neal has collaborated with writer Wendy Walker on a number of print/text projects. “…a different forest”, a public art commission for Omaha Public Library brings the print out of the book or off the wall and into the room for contemplation. She will be working on a series of prints for her design and stage set production for a Chamber Opera by Michael Kowalski.
Biography
Florence Neal moved to New York City from Columbus, Georgia in January of 1977. She was one of the early community of D.U.M.B.O. artists, living at 223 Water Street before moving to Red Hook in 1987. She participated in a number of artist-initiated exhibitions in the late 70’s and early 80’s. In 1981 she was invited to present her work in a two-person show at White Columns. Neal’s work has been exhibited widely in local, national and international venues including: Erie Art Museum Art Works Gallery, Erie, PA; National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, TN; Willis Gallery, Detroit, MI; 55 Mercer Street Gallery, NY; Hermit Symposium, Plasy, Czech Republic; L5 Kunstinitiatief, Roermond, The Netherlands, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn, AL; and Hanalei Gallery, Hawaii.
Her prints and Artists Books are in a number of public collections including The Brooklyn Museum, Columbus Public Library, Hofstra Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, and New York Public Library, Department of Prints. Public art commissions include: “Dance of Life” at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and “…a different forest” commissioned by Art Omaha for Omaha Public Library is an image/text collaboration with writer Wendy Walker. “Screen Memories” was an installation in Brooklyn Public Library combining prints with text from Ms. Walker’s book “Blue Fire”. Neal created an Artist Book with a series of leaf print collages to accompany the poetry of Moroccan poet, Tabal as translated by Ms. Walker. Neal’s print series “Cycles” was featured in New York / Paris show entitled “Dialogue”, organized by Maddy Rosenberg.
Neal is a Pollock-Krasner Fellowship winner and has been awarded residency opportunities including Fundación Valparaíso, Women’s Studio Workshop, The Banff Centre, Hambidge Center for the Arts, and others. In 1985 she founded Everglade Press, an artist’s press, in her waterfront studio. She helped initiate the exhibitions program at Brooklyn Public Library as Exhibitions Coordinator in 2002 to 2004. Since 1992, Neal has been the director of the non-profit gallery she co-founded in 1990, the Kentler International Drawing Space, located in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Future projects include a set design with a series of large-scale prints for a Chamber Opera by Michael Kowalski.
