Heather Cantrell

Carter & Citizen is pleased to present Heather Cantrell "Weirding Way". The exhibition opens May 4th and closes June 8, 2013. The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Saturday, May 4th, from 6 to 9pm. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Heather Cantrellʼs newest body of work, an introspective series of self-portraits were created after a turbulent move (of both her studio and home) from Los Angeles to New York in 2012. The artistʼs materials include torn and scratched C-prints, shattered acrylic, painted-over and re-photographed images as well as non-traditional framing devices, including sequined fabric. These intensely cathartic works give us a window in which to observe the artist’s personal struggle with transformation and a mirror reflecting our own experiences of radical dislocation.

In "Weirding Way", Cantrellʼs self-portraits draw upon ancient myths and legends, exploring the heroic cycle of death and rebirth. She examines the intimate voyage to the underworld, with its archetypal characters and experiences, and the essential wisdom and insight gained by such encounters. The exhibitionʼs confrontational collages are composed of both allegorical and literal elements, encompassing and compressing the spectrum of emotions and personae inherent in the classical quest for self-knowledge. With each iteration of the self, Cantrell addresses issues of the real and the perceived.

"Weirding Way" juxtaposes portraiture and ordinary artifacts to suggest polar states of being. Simultaneously, viewers encounter a range of thought, feeling and identity that suggest the beginning and end of the transformative process in a single moment. This exhibition presents the primal growth of the spirit: in the face of destruction, despair and suffering, we find cathartic release and consolation.

Heather Cantrell’s work has been seen nationally and internationally in solo exhibitions at venues such as MOT International (London), Newman Popiashvilli (New York), Kinkead Contemporary (Los Angeles), sixspace (Los Angeles) and Sandroni Rey Gallery (Los Angeles). Cantrell has been included in group shows throughout the U.S. and abroad in venues such as Wonderland Art Space (Copenhagen, Denmark), The Luckman Fine Arts Complex at CSULA (Los Angeles), and the CCA Wattis Institute (Oakland, CA). Reviews of her work have been published in Artforum, the New York Times, Frieze, LA Weekly, and the Los Angeles Times. Cantrell received her MFA from UCLA in 2001 and her BFA from the Maryland Institute, College of art in 1995. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles and New York.