Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to announce the New York solo debut of Rachel Feinstein. Feinstein, known for her elaborate and extravagant sculptures rendered in plaster and wood, presents five large freestanding sculptures in the main gallery, with the rear gallery transformed into a faux Rococo salon. This new body of work is inspired by from Feinstein's recent trip to the imperial palaces of Munich and Vienna. At the Amalienburg Palace (outside Munich), she discovered an all-white Rococo room that she reinterpreted in the gallery space. Additionally, many of the figures and shapes of her sculptures -- lions, swans, lovers, angels, waterfalls -- are reminiscent of the works produced at the Nymphenburg porcelain factory. One of the show’s largest works, a brightly colored procession of life-size painted wooden horses, comes from an image she found of an 18th century Spanish cavalcade. While clearly delighting in the enormous beauty and refinement of Rococo achievement, the underlying contradictions of that time are openly implied and contemplated in Feinstein’s work: decadence, debauchery, and aristocratic decline.
In general, Feinstein’s work alludes to a myriad of diverse artistic influences and interests: from the sets of Hollywood classics such as Gone With the Wind and My Fair Lady, to the works of early Arte Povera artist Pino Pascali, and American figurative sculptor Elie Nadelman. Her materials and techniques (gold leafing, decorative mirrors, candelabras, intricate carving) harkens to the artistic means of the gilded age. Feinstein filters these many sensibilities through her Miami upbringing, creating a truly exciting and cohesive synthesis of material and ornamental complexity.
Feinstein is currently exhibiting in The Americans exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London. She recently exhibited works in Pastoral Pop at the Whitney Museum at Philip Morris and Greater New York at the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center.