In coordination with the announcement of our artist roster, Mrs. will release weekly, online viewing rooms individual to each artist, showcasing new and available works.  This week we feature Elizabeth Atterbury.

With her exercises in material alchemy and appropriations of existent forms, Elizabeth Atterbury demonstrates a fluid studio practice, which moves between picture making and object making.

Atterbury’s images consist largely of impermanent constructions arranged and photographed in the studio. Drawn to materials such as paper and sand, she constructs ephemeral tableaus specifically for the purpose of transfiguring and recording them. The artist’s sculptural works represent a confluence of the physical and the depicted. They are allegorical expressions, and they are props for a still life. Constructed from cut plywood and individually raked with tile mortar, like brush strokes, Atterbury’s wall works are reconstructed and puzzled together, rejoining the carved glyphs as one complete narrative; cumbersome and airy, these works echo the sculptures they surround.

Fascinated with the autonomy of the artifact – objects disassociated from their original function and context – Atterbury’s practice considers the distinction or lack thereof between artifact, prop, model and sculpture. The work is not only symbolic and representative, but it demonstrates how history, memory and imagination conspire in generating abstract personal iconographies.

Elizabeth Atterbury received her BA from Hampshire College, and her MFA from MassArt. Solo exhibitions include Document, Chicago, IL; The Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME; kijidome, Boston, MA; and Mrs., Maspeth, NY. She has been included in group exhibitions at Et. al, San Francisco, CA; Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL; Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Brooklyn, Bodega and Kate Werble Gallery, New York, and Mrs., Maspeth, NY; The Portland Museum of Art and The ICA at Maine College of Art, Portland, ME. Atterbury first started working with the gallery in the spring of 2017 with her solo exhibition 3 Sets. Her work was presented at NADA Miami the following year, and her most recent solo exhibition, Night Comes In, was held in the winter of 2019. Atterbury lives and works in Portland, Maine.

Throughout the week we will feature Elizabeth Atterbury's practice on the gallery’s Instagram, with dedicated stories and posts, highlighting exhibitions and works, both past and present. For additional information or sales inquires please contact hello@mrsgallery.com.