Emilie Stark-Menneg
Backwards Dive
June 9 - July 14, 2018

OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, June 9, 2018
4:00pm - 6:00pm

Border Patrol presents Backwards Dive, an exhibition of new works by Emilie Stark-Menneg.

"These recent paintings are storyboards for an impossible film—cue the monsoon, catch the shark, release the mermaids.

I don’t know how to animate, so my movie-making decisions are largely based on real-life circumstances and DIY green-screen effects. In the past, I’ve celebrated the humor of the shoddy production, of the self-conscious reveal. But increasingly I am interested in being enraptured.

What are the mechanisms at work, when one sits in a movie theater and becomes completely engulfed in the story? And how does the cinematic play out in painting? Reluctantly, I’ve decided to give illusion, light, depth and atmosphere a second chance.

I’m beginning to look back, to admit to my love of Renaissance painting and Gothic romance. This descent makes me squeamish, because I’ve been so obsessed with breaking the rules and making work that looks weird and new. I don’t know what I’ll find, but I’ve always been terrified of diving backwards, so here it goes."

--Emilie Stark-Menneg
May 2018

Emilie Stark-Menneg is an interdisciplinary artist working in painting, video and sculpture. In 2007, she received a BFA in combined media from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY and is currently an MFA candidate at the  Rhode Island School of Design. Stark-Menneg has had solo exhibitions at Allouche Gallery, NYC; the Nesto Gallery of Milton Academy, Milton, MA; Elizabeth Moss Gallery, Falmouth, ME; Makebish Gallery, NYC; Kijidome, Boston, MA; Leonard R. Craig Gallery, Unity College, Unity, ME; and at the Coleman Burke Gallery, Brunswick, ME. Her installation, “When We Land” was included in the 2015 Portland Museum of Art Biennial, You Can’t Get there from Here. She was included in issue 122 of New American Paintings from the Open Studios Press. Emilie Stark-Menneg currently lives and works in Providence, RI.

View more of Emilie's work here and on Instagram @emiliestarkmenneg ​

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