HALSEY MCKAY GALLERY

For her second exhibition with the gallery, Rachel Foullon will show a focused group of works from her Threshold series revolving around the form of a braid. Each constructed from dozens of strands of hand-dyed cotton draw cord pulled across stained cedar frames, Foullon expands on the timeless personal hair sculpture to yield haptic associations. For the artist, the braid is a systematized style of control, a handle, a tail, a vulnerability and a permission.

Accompanying these works is a sculpture that stretches from floor to ceiling, titled Hayloft. As a continuation of Foullon’s ongoing exploration of works that “live two lives”, or have two possible permutations for installation, this piece emulates a hayloft door that can be displayed either open or closed. Constructed from individually dyed “soft” boards riveted together to compose a hatch, this element either hangs upside down or neatly fills its frame, secured via metal locking pins.  Like the Thresholds, this work invokes tension and dependency  between regulated structure and the supple interior it supports.

Rachel Foullon (b. 1978, Glendale, CA) earned her BS from New York University and MFA from Columbia University. Solo exhibitions have been at the University Art Museum, University at Albany, NY; Launch Pad, London, UK; Halsey McKay Gallery, NY; ltd los angeles, CA; Artissima19, Torino, IT, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, NY and 55 Gansevoort, NY. Foullon has participated in recent group exhibitions at SculptureCenter, Brennan and Griffin, Wallspace, and Kate Werble Gallery in NY; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK and Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, OR among others.  Awards, commissions and residencies have been granted to the artist by NYFA, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Public Art Fund, Dieu Donne Papermill and others. Foullon is represented by Halsey McKay Gallery.