Absence of Presence

October 14 - November 20, 2021

Opening Reception: “First Thursday,” November 4, 6-8pm

Greg Kucera Gallery is pleased to announce our seventh solo exhibition of work by artist Jody Isaacson. In 1984 the Seattle native showed traditional wood block prints with Northwest imagery. Then, as now, her hand chiseled wood blocks– the matrix for her prints– are treated as art pieces. Her 1989 show featured an installation including two 14 x 20 foot wood block prints focusing on patterns drawn from cedar forests and wood grain patterns.

In more recent exhibitions, Isaacson has made prints that suggest lantern light, and imagery of candles burning. Her monumental show with us in 2018 centered on candles hanging by their wicks as a form of marking time. Each candle was hand-dipped once for every year of a person's life to commemorate everyone in her life who had died to that point. In the current show, the artist demonstrates her ability to move from printmaking on paper to printing on clay slabs through which she creates an homage to Dance by Henri Matisse. References to Lantern Spectre by Hokusai and Kathe Kollwitz’ Die Mutter (The Mothers) helped her deepen her connection with those who have lived through the deaths of children.

Jody Isaacson received her BFA (1981) from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI, and her MFA (1983) from California College of Art in Oakland, CA. She lives and works in Sidney Center, NY.