Portraits Press release

The Ailey Studios
The Joan Weill Center for Dance
405 West 55th Street at 9th Avenue, Studio 2A
New York, NY 10019
Thursday, June 14th, 2007, from 6 PM to 9 PM

CB Fine Arts is pleased to present the work of Ramona Gittens in a preview of her debut solo exhibition. Celebrate with a bon voyage toast and view selected pieces from the body of work that will be exhibited in Moret-sur-Loing, France. Portraits is comprised of large monochrome oil paintings in blues and greens that have a bold spiritual energy. The exhibition grows out of Gittens’ contemplation of how, in this post-hip hop era, we view, present and inhabit the black body. Portraits focuses on the delineation between objectification and intimacy, surface and depth, the individual and the symbol. Gittens’ paintings are at once specific in their capture of the subjects’ physical attributes -- a crooked nose, a tattoo, a double jointed finger -- and also intentionally iconic. Gittens believes that image-making in popular culture creates a struggle between self-definition and self-objectification. Portraits searches for an understanding of where her individual subjects begin and where the social constructs of Man, Woman, Child, Black Man, Black Woman, and Black Child begins. Her paintings also stem from a dialogue with each of her subjects that Gittens begins by asking the subjects to show her what they think is beautiful about themselves and what they want people to know about who they are. Gittens was born in Brooklyn and has lived in London and Paris. This is her first show. A larger selection of Gittens’ work will be exhibited in Moret-sur-Loing, France, which is 45 minutes east of Paris in the Seine et Marne region, at the Priory de Pont Loup. The venue is a 12th century deconsecrated church in the heart of a picturesque medieval village made prominent by the impressionist painters Alfred Sisley and Claude Monet. The exhibition will run July 26th, 2007 through August 13th, 2007, Monday through Saturday, from 2.30 PM-8.30 PM. A full list of the works to be shown in Moret-sur-Loing, along with further details and directions, is available on the artist’s website at www.ramonagittens.com.
CONTACT:
CHRISTOPHER BOSWELL, CB FINE ARTS
P: 646-671-5476
E: CBFINEARTS@YAHOO.COM