Artist Ulrike Arnold Creates Earth Paintings for Joseph Gross Gallery

Jeff Harrison
May 8, 2000


What
"Earth Paintings," an exhibition of recent paintings by German artist Ulrike Arnold

When
May 17 - August 10, 2000
Summer Gallery hours: Monday through Friday, 10:00 - 5:00


Opening reception for the artist -Wednesday, May 17, 5-7 p.m.

Where
Joseph Gross Gallery, located at the University of Arizona art department, Speedway and Park (across from the UA Museum of Art); parking is available in the garage at the northeast corner of Speedway and Park Avenue

Cost
This event is free and open to the public

Contact
Public: 626-4215
Media: Julie Sasse, Galleries Curator, 520-626-4215

German artist Ulrike Arnold is fascinated with the Earth and all its nuances. Focusing on the properties, texture and color of stone and earth, Arnold pulverizes these materials to create natural pigments for her large-scale canvases and works on paper. Traveling to remote parts of Arizona, Australia and northern Mexico, Arnold sets up open-air studios, creating sensual abstractions by applying the processed earth directly to the canvas with her hands. The end result is a body of work that speaks of the land with which she bonds, becoming literal landscapes. As the artist explains her emotional connection to her subject matter and the unique method and choice of materials saying, "The Earth is assigned a particular significance: earth is primary materials, conveyor of energy; earth means beginning and end."

Calling herself an "earth artist" or "earth painter," Arnold was born in Dusseldorf in 1950. Eventually becoming a teacher of music and art, she became entranced with the possibilities of earth pigments while visiting Provence, France, where she visited the red ochre pits near Roussillion in 1980. This turning point in her artistic development encouraged her to abandon the studio for the on-site benefits of working directly on the land from which she takes her materials. She has worked in Algeria, Madagascar, Iceland, Armenia, Australia and throughout the American Southwest. The timelessness of the land, the brilliance of the colors of the earth and stone, and the startling beauty of remote and rugged wilderness are all revealed in her powerful, textured works that bring the essence of her travels to the viewer.

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