FOR 6-1

RED SAW GALLERY WILL PRESENT NEW WORKS BY ERIKA DIAMOND

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NEWARK, N.J. — Red Saw Gallery presents an exhibition of new works by emerging artist Erika Diamond on view through June 22. A reception for the artists will be Saturday, June 2, at 6 pm.

Set before viewers are unusual and intricate works referential of the body through both medium and execution. Diamond’s delicate constructions utilizing the organic, textural materials of peeled grape and onion skins to grass and human hair explore the concepts of control, containment and obsession.

At first glance, it is not entirely evident how the artist has obtained these exact line drawings and fragile, wafer-like sculptures. Upon closer inspection, however, the line drawings reveal their medium of human hair or sometimes grass, and the suspended wafer thin sculptures unmask themselves as the reconstructed skins of onions.

The works are obsessive in nature with a repetition of organic forms. The completed pieces are as much about process as the end product. Diamond has literally peeled us a grape — make that several hundred — or, as in her “Epidermis” series — unraveled the outer layers of an onion, and carefully stitched them back together, suspending them in mid-air like ornaments or floating cocoons. The ephemeral nature of her work challenges traditional ideologies of permanence and material. Diamond has crafted and painstakingly executed wonderful marvels of patience.

For information, 973-648-8275 or www.redsawart.com.