Michael Rosenthal is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Amy Casey.

“The idea that life keeps going on no matter what happens is sort of the most simultaneously horrifying and hopeful thing I can think of.” says Casey, “Whether or not the new communities will make it is still sort of up for grabs for me though, its more interesting to me the idea of problems and solutions and mistakes and resolutions, if that makes any sense at all.” Amongst the social and economic peaks and falls of our past decade, Casey has always found a glimmer of hope through her paintings. The structures of support and balance in her work are conditions of an aftermath; what remains of the popularized apocalypses must work together to construct a new community from otherwise disparate social territories.

In Casey’s new body of work made for her solo exhibition at Michael Rosenthal, she’s incorporated imagery of brick walls and chain-linked fences reminiscent of barricades, fortresses and safety nets. Every disaster is followed by a rebirth, and what new life doesn’t need to be nurtured and protected. Her teetering houses and buildings are either given space to bloom, or huddled together in an attempt to gain strength in numbers. Her delicate lines and strokes speak of the uneasiness of the days and result in an unsettled optimism for the future.

Amy Casey (Erie, Pennsylvania 1976) lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. She was recently featured on the cover of New American Paintings as well as awarded the 2009 Cleveland Arts Prize. Casey was also awarded the Creative Workforce Fellowship from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture in Cleveland. She graduated with a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1999.

Learn more