Sikkema Jenkins & Co. is pleased to present As the Ground Turns Solid, a solo exhibition of new work by Zipora Fried on view from November 21, 2019 through January 11, 2020. This will be Fried’s inaugural solo exhibition at the gallery.

Working across sculpture, photography, and drawing, Fried’s oeuvre explores the potential of color and form to transcend language and express the nuances of the human experience. The subconscious remains a focal point of interest for Fried, as the formal conditions of object and image become deconstructed and reinterpreted through their symbolic connections to one another. Every gesture of the artist’s hand, in shape and form, signifies a distinct moment in the phenomenological experience of Fried’s work.

The new works featured in this exhibition are the result of Fried’s lengthy residency on Lamu Island, in the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya. Founded in the fourteenth century, Lamu is the most preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa. Fried’s series of drawings synthesizes the multi-textural conditions of human and natural life, as experienced during her stay on the island.

Fried’s series of pencil drawings drew inspiration from the vivid flora and fauna of Lamu Island. Hues of blue, green and gold meld into one another, recalling the artist’s own visions of Lamu Island, of “sky and mud colored lizards, soft-toned cicada shells, sunsets echoing exploding worlds […] the yearning breath of the tide syncopating melodically with the infinite characteristics of the sand.” Composed of meticulously patterned lines, the act of drawing each individual stroke mediates a delicate balance between the composure of ritual and the inconsistency in reiteration. Each mark thus becomes subsumed within a larger color field, as the rational functionality of line and form are deconstructed and transformed into a unique sensorial experience.

Zipora Fried (b. Haifa, Israel) studied at the Academy of Applied Arts, Vienna. Recent exhibitions include Late October at On Stellar Rays, New York (2016); Zipora Fried at Marfa Contemporary, Marfa, TX (2015); and Good Night, Mister Procustes at Galerie Steinek, Vienna (2014). Her work is included in the public collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY; The Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria; and the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA. She currently lives and works in New York.