ART 3 gallery is pleased to present Gretchen Scherer, Once I Had This Dream. This will be the artist’s second solo exhibition at ART 3 gallery.

Once I Had This Dream features 8 oil paintings Scherer meticulously rendered by manipulating classical architecture. Scherer’s exquisite “interior landscapes” are windows into the imaginary. Dreamlike rooms unfold and multiply endlessly, revealing a deeper sense of our sub-conscious. As Carl Jung mentioned in his book Man and His Symbols, referring to the winding pattern found in illuminated manuscripts: Scherer’s fictional interiors depart from their original sources of inspiration to become imaginary spaces of possibility—much like the capriccios of 18th century Italian art. The artist bases her works on collages composed of different images she finds in old books on the history of interiors. This creates tension within the work and the resulting painting is fragmented while at the same time appearing to all fit together. It relates to spolia, the re-use of artifacts and materials to create works of architecture and art. Rooms are linked together in curious ways; stairs, halls and doorways go on endlessly as if in a dream where one cannot find an exit.

Scherer’s paintings are about the blending of interior spaces that exist, either in the past or in our minds. "Gretchen Scherer's small paintings of exquisite interiors remind us of Jane Irish and are pretty delightful; Scherer shares Irish’s joy in the depiction of fancy interiors and has a similarly lush palette, but there is something more ominous in those empty rooms, a clearly felt absence." - Gabriella Vainsencher (Artfcity September 2013).

Gretchen Scherer received a BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and graduated with an MFA from Hunter College in 2006. Her work has been included in group shows in New York, Chicago, Rome and LA, as well as a two- person show in Oldenburg, Germany in the summer of 2015. Gretchen is represented by ART 3, Bushwick. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn.