MONICA ZERINGUE

JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY is proud to announce Goddesses and Monsters, the debut solo exhibition of new drawings by artist Monica Zeringue.  Zeringue creates ethereal and spellbinding works that abound with references to mythology. Adaptations of the artist's self-portrait recur in varying configurations throughout her canvases, often bound together by knots and masses of hair.  Her fluid graphite drawings are typically drafted on heavily primed linen, occasionally incorporating embroidery and other mixed media embellishments. The artist's own image serves as the agent to move the viewer into her musing allegorical landscapes.

Goddesses and Monsters will be on view from April 1st- April 23rd, 2013, with an artist reception Saturday, April 6th, from 6-9 pm.

Zeringue says of these works

In my new drawings, I am using imagery from ancient Greek and Roman tales particularly the trials of Hercules, and weaving a new mythology with myself as the center.  The symbols become something completely new in this totally different context, but still recall goddesses, monsters and mortals struggling for survival, power and a place in the world.  The figures in the drawings are self-portraits. I am tracing my struggles with identity, trying on new ones.  I am a beast, a savior, a nurturer, frightened and then frightening. The hope is that as I become braver in the making of art, I will become braver in my life.

The drawings are both descriptive and sparse.  The open, empty space in the drawings play off of the finely rendered images to create a timeless dream-like space, where only certain information is given in exquisite detail but the rest must be imagined. I want them to be beautiful, yet also challenging and confrontational.