EXHIBITION STYLEGUIDE (FP): Birthday Boy: Jubilation and Melancholia

Sikkema Malloy Jenkins is pleased to present Birthday Boy: Jubilation and Melancholia, a solo exhibition of recent work by artist Zipora Fried. This is the artist’s third solo presentation with the gallery, presenting a recent series of color-pencil abstract drawings and new ceramic works. Birthday Boy: Jubilation and Melancholia will be on view December 14, 2023, through February 3, 2024. A public opening reception will be held Thursday, December 14, from 6-8 PM.

The drawings featured in Birthday Boy: Jubilation and Melancholia reiterate color and line as the most foundational elements of Fried’s colored-pencil abstractions. Rows of pigment are built up line by line, with each stroke of the pencil existing as both a self-contained singular gesture and a constituent strand of a greater whole. As one’s gaze travels across Fried’s chromatic landscapes, lighter hues meld into vibrant saturation, while deeper tones unfurl into areas of shadow. Fried views the length of time devoted to the application of each mark as a process of sustained contemplation, imbuing the drawings with emotion and transforming them into prisms of refracted color and mood.