Sarah Tortora / Kate Shepherd
Whereabouts Part One
September 4—October 9, 2021
Opening Reception: September 4, 4—8 pm
Left: Kate Shepherd, Warm Cracks, Egg, Map (Medium), detail, 2015 / Right: Sarah Tortora, Wayward Queen, detail, 2021
Ulterior Gallery is pleased to present Whereabouts, a two-part, three-person group exhibition of works by Sarah Tortora, Kate Shepherd, and Terri Thornton. Part One will feature sculptural works by Sarah Tortora and Kate Shepherd, opening on September 4; Part Two will feature five works in varied media by Kate Shepherd and Terri Thornton, opening on October 16. These two exhibitions are conceived as a group show connecting the three artists.
While these three artists have different processes and styles, their works share an exploration of the connection between artist and space or place. In Part One, the works on view by Sarah Tortora and Kate Shepherd examine geographical marks and/or architectural traits that they find in their surroundings and sublimate into artworks that often make visible elements that are invisible or overlooked. In Part Two, which extends out from Part One, Kate Shepherd and Terri Thornton expand on these investigations of space and visibility, creating tangible textures and forms drawn from their own inner landscapes that are filtered through the private actions and world of the studio, connecting the artists’ experiences of internal and external space.
Part One features two wall pieces by Kate Shepherd and several sculptures by Sarah Tortora. The placement of Tortora’s Wayward Queen effectively divides the gallery space into two. Comprising the work is a rock formation anchored by a geometric leg connected to a large X, suggesting opposing directional pulls.
Placed at the front entrance and back of the exhibition, Shepherd’s two wall pieces, Warm Cracks, Egg, Map (Medium), and Warm Cracks, Egg, Map, bookend and resonate with Tortora’s sculptures. In creating these works, Shepherd traced the cracks on a pavement in Central Park and transferred the crack lines onto a thin wooden surface. The panels were then laser cut, reassembled, and reattached, suggesting a means of trying to understand the nature of or truth behind the cracks through the process of remaking and mapping them.
In a related allusion to cartographic terms, Tortora’s X literally marks the spot, indicating a location. X also indicates “not here”, and in mathematical terms X denotes the unknown—functioning as an empty placeholder. X is also a mark of erasure, as when something is X’ed out. The sense of directional pull embedded in the work is amplified when viewing its reverse side, in which a chess board-like pattern is revealed within the rock formation. The sculpture’s title, Wayward Queen, refers explicitly to an opening move in chess that entails deliberately and clumsily moving the queen toward the middle of the board in an early attempt to gain control of the center. But in what direction is “wayward”? The term indicates capriciousness, an unpredictable deviation from some norm—and the questioning of its course underscores Tortora’s examination of the relativity of space, time, passion, and emotion. The viewer’s trek through the experiential “whereabouts” of these works will emphasize the wayward directions that each takes.
Sarah Tortora (b.1988, New Haven, CT) is a sculptor based in Brooklyn, NY. Tortora graduated with a MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013 and participated in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine in the same year. Tortora exhibits actively and has been awarded numerous residencies and grants, including: MacDowell Artist in Residence, Peterborough, NH (2014); Yaddo Artist in Residence, Saratoga Springs, NY (2014); Alice C. Cole 1942 Fellowship, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA (2015-16); and Athena Standards Residency, Athens, Greece (2019).
Born in 1961 in New York City, Kate Shepherd continues to live and work there. Her work is featured in numerous museum collections, including The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; The Microsoft Art Collection; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York. Solo exhibitions of the artist’s work have been held at institutions including The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas.
