Hackett-Freedman Gallery is proud to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Ann Gale, March 6 – April 26, 2008. In her new work, Gale focuses on the psychology and sexuality of her sitter, using light, fragmented brushwork, and color to reveal her involvement and proximity with the subject matter, both formally and metaphorically. Gale, the recipient of a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship, is also the subject of a current solo exhibition at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, on view through February 10.
    In her new work, Gale’s mark-making takes on an increased intensity as she explores the relationship between the presence of the figure (the pressure of flesh and bone within two-dimensional space) and the emotive quality of her abstract marks. In paintings such as Gary with Light Wall (2004), color, light, and brushwork challenge the representative nature of the subject, or, as the artist states, “the gravity of the marks pushes the person around.” However, this conversation between what the sitter is saying and the emotional qualities inherent in Gale’s formalism is neither cold nor clinical. Instead, it speaks to the continuing challenges presented by Gale’s complex and rigorous process.
    Gale works slowly, drawing and painting directly from the model over a period of many weeks or months. Over time, the emotional and physical demands of maintaining such close, intimate contact with her subject leads to a dematerialization and
 fragmentation of the painted figure. Drawing is integral to Gale’s process. The works on paper relate directly to the canvases and she repeatedly refers to them while painting in order to find the reason for her methodology—“the reason for it” as she herself says. This exhibition features several of Ann’s figure drawings, which are being exhibited here for the first time.
    This is Ann Gale’s third exhibition at Hackett-Freedman Gallery. A professor at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle, Gale is the recipient of numerous grants, including a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship, Artist Trust Grant/GAP Award (2003), WESTAF/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1996), and Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (1997).