GALINA MUNROE, Ode to Vivian
Opening 28 January 2025 h 7 p.m., Via Argelati n° 24, 20143 Milano (MI)
Until 07 March 2025
Galleria Patricia Armocida is happy to announce “Ode to Vivian”, a solo exhibition by Galina Munroe opening on Tuesday January 28, 2025 at 7:00 pm.
The large canvases made by Galina Munroe, who’ll have her first solo exhibition at the gallery, blend oil painting and collage, figuration and abstraction. Her subjects are simplified floral arrangements, in playful almost childlike shapes, with vibrant colors.
These floral still lifes are delicate symbols of her “inner garden”, as well as an artistic means to rebel against the age-old esthetic hierarchy that privileges certain forms of art over others based on gender biases. Flowers have historically been considered a very suitable subject for women with artistic aspirations, since they are frivolous and safe. Women were forbidden to study anatomy as nude models were deemed inappropriate for them, and women were considered to be lacking in knowledge and strength of imagination to paint historical or mythological scenes.
Hence, flowers stood as the stronghold of a prejudiced devaluation of women’s work in art.
Munroe intentionally mocks this distinction between serious and frivolous, masculine and feminine, turning her still lifes into an invitation for women to enter the art world and demand their place. These flowers also represent her inner garden, revealing her hopes, sorrows, and affections.
Her works are like a therapeutic journey in which the artist learns to love herself and be more compassionate with herself while exploring boundaries and vulnerabilities. And viewers are invited to take this same journey.
BIO
The British-French artist Galina Munroe (born in 1993), lives and works in Norwich, UK.
She obtained her BA in Fine Arts from Beaux Arts, EESAB in Rennes, France in 2014, and her MA in Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins University of Arts in London in 2016.
Her recognizable visual style is the result of a simplistic formal vocabulary of bright colors and layers of oil paint and fabric collage on canvas.
“I don’t approach new work with pre-meditated sketches or ideas for a motif, instead I take cues from the materials I work with, such as a pre-existing fold or smudge on the canvas”.
This fluid and spontaneous approach is reflected in the impression of freshness of her paintings, encouraging viewers to direct their attention inwards.
Munroe has developed a language of visual phrases that frequently recur; suggestions of voluminous flowers, plants, fruits, all elements that recollect the rural countryside, the artist’s primary working environment.
Solo shows:
2024, LOTTE Gallery, Love Me Till I Am Me Again, South Korea; 2023, JARILAGER Gallery, Bruised Dawn, Cologne, Germany; 2022, Piermarq, Tending to the Tender Things, Sydney, Australia; C O U NTY, Things that make you want to stay, US; 2021, UNION Gallery, The King of Carrot Flowers, London, UK; Piermarq, The Silence Tasters, Sydney, Australia; 2020, Piermarq, To emerge in a different place, Sydney, Australia; 2019, Piermarq Gallery, Orville,Sydney, Australia.
Some Group Shows:
2023, Piermarq at Zona MACO 2023, Piermarq, MX; JARILAGER Gallery, Art Busan, Busan, South Korea; UNION Gallery, LAF, London, UK; 2022, JARILAGER Gallery, Weeds Won’t Wither, Cologne, Germany; UNION Gallery, Still Standing, London, UK; Galerie Slika, Dream Paper, a group show curated by Jérémie Masurel, France; Piermarq, PINK, Sydney, Australia; 2021, Delphian Gallery, Dandelion, UK; Delphian Gallery, 4 Year Anniversary, UK; NBB Dallery, NBB x Zora Auguste, Berlin, Germany; Roman Sviridov Gallery, Puzzle, Italy; Fran Reus Gallery, Palma Art Fair, Majorca, Spain; Galeria Trinta, Brindar con extraños, group, Spain; 2020, Online group exhibition curated by Kristin Texeira, Soothe; Piermarq, Work on paper, Sydney, Australia; Auc Art Auction, Sensations, Online; 2019, Bricks Gallery, TWENTYFOUR, Copenhagen,Denmark; Piermarq, Spring Patterns, Sydney, Australia.
ARTIST