UNTITLED gallery is proud to present "Sleepwalking Into Cocoon", sculptural works by Katherine Zsolt, curated by Kristina Della Valle.  The gallery will host an opening reception for the exhibition on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 from 7-10pm.  Refreshments will be available from Cibo Cafe.

“Sleepwalking Into Cocoon” is a new group of wrapped-body castings from Katherine Zsolt.  Light, movement, transformation, and tactility permeate the physical, visual, and conceptual aspects of Zsolt’s work.  Within that framework, the wrapped body-castings, which appear to be encased in a dreamlike state, provide a focused vehicle for dialectical exchange on the contemporary female psyche.

“Sleepwalking Into Cocoon” seeks to unveil the solitary female act of going within oneself to find personal truth on the journey toward conscious femininity.  This theme is not unfamiliar to Zsolt’s work; the waking of women from social, cultural, and intellectual trances is taken from author and Jungian analyst Marion Woodman’s “Leaving My Father’s House: A Journey Toward Conscious Femininity”, and has been inspiring Zsolt since she came upon the book in the early 90’s.  Also inspired by Woodman’s work is Zsolt’s exploration of the necessary separation from the familiar to allow for personal inquiry, the symbolic deep sleep required for healing and personal evolution (as in the gestation of a fetus or the developmental transformation of a moth in cocoon), and finally, the idea that, for a woman to define and assert her unique voice, she must draw from both her masculine, feminine and universal qualities. Additional influences within Katherine Zsolt’s work are the stark figures of Botoh dance, French graveyard sculpture, the black and white film and photography of the Surrealist movement, and the works of Joseph Campbell and Robert Bly on the importance of myth and rites of passage in our lives.

This body of work addresses the separation, cocooning, sleep, and dreaming experienced during the first part of the journey toward conscious femininity. The remaining part of the journey will be addressed at the Icehouse Gallery on March 5, 2010.

Kristina Della Valle is the curator of “Sleepwalking Into Cocoon”.  She is the director of one of the most prestigious sculpture galleries in the country, New Leaf gallery, in Sonoma, Ca. She has been working with both Katherine Zsolt and UNTITLED gallery for the past 6 months in ensuring the cohesiveness of the sculpture with the space.  The space is very important to the integrity of the show – each piece has been thought through in terms of how it will exist in its environment. UNTITLED gallery’s space lends itself fully to these works, accentuating the feeling of the cocoon.

UNTITLED gallery is created for artists, by artists. We are committed to the exhibition of vital, complex and thought-provoking contemporary art of emerging and established artists. Driven by the belief that artistic expression can manifest itself through various mediums and techniques, UNTITLED strives to affirm these distinct forms.