Nancy Blum: Wonderland

Humans tend to place themselves front and center in any given narrative — except in Nancy Blum’s “Wonderland” — where 17th century botanical drawings merge with microbes, Chinese plum blossoms mingle with Germanic botanical renderings, and spirographs lend a pseudo scientific, techno-reference. Using complex layers and subtly mathematical line-work, each nuanced pattern teems with echo and response, bursting beyond its frame. These works subvert the language of beauty, and verge on the maniacal. The ultimate effect sets the viewer into a trance or meditation that is as unnerving as it is hallucinatory; a joyous world full of force and life.

Blum’s public art projects, which have been installed throughout the country, include 50 hatch covers in the streets of Seattle, a 40-foot free standing sculpture in Philadelphia and artwork for a large retaining wall through New York City’s MTA Arts in Transit program. Having recently completed three distinct light rail stations for the Central Corridor Light Rail System in Minneapolis/St. Paul, she is currently working on a 100 feet of art glass for San Francisco General Hospital.

Nancy received her MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art and has since been creating and exhibiting extensively in the worlds of sculptural public art and drawing. Her work, which explores the pattern and architecture of nature, has been recognized by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Peter S. Reed Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and others. She has been an artist in residence and guest lecturer at numerous institutions, featured in solo exhibitions at galleries and institutions across the US and is in international collections in Brussels and South Korea.

This show is Nancy Blum’s first with Ricco/Maresca as well as her inaugural show in New York City.