BALTIMORE, MD - C. Grimaldis Gallery is pleased to present its 47th annual summer group exhibition, Summer ‘24, featuring contemporary painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.

The work of James Hennessey (1936-2023) guides us through subtle interplays of figure and object. His intimate narratives span from the stoic to the surreal, creating a dialogue of nuanced color within both refined and ambiguous spaces. Grace Hartigan (1922-2008) melds washes of color, fusing figurative content with her distinctive approach to abstraction, characterized by vibrant hues and dynamic gestures. Summer ‘24 includes paintings from the artist’s “Lexington Market Series” exemplifying how the later works hold increased presence because of Hartigan’s developed understanding of expression in painting. The exhibition includes a print from another contemporary of the Abstract Expressionist movement, Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989). This piece from the artist’s “Lascaux Series” came after de Kooning’s trip to the Paleolithic caves of France, sparking principal works based on cave paintings, in which outlines of animals such as deer, bison, and goats, are rendered against turbulent grounds of dense marks.

The sculptures of Jae Ko and John Ruppert converse on ideas of naturally occurring versus human-created energy and form. Jae Ko transforms her chosen medium of paper into a living voice within her work. Through binding, gluing, and submerging, Ko imbues the paper with a soft vitality that evokes the forces of nature. In contrast, John Ruppert explores hard-edge materials to delve into human influence on the environment. His castings emphasize a spatial grounding and violent solidity, inviting viewers to contemplate textured surfaces with a sense of serene attention. Together these sculptural works find a balance between celebrating the raw creativity of the earth and acknowledging humanity’s role in shaping the landscape.

Summer ‘24 showcases work from the photo series “SHE” by Lebanese photographer Rania Matar. Drawing from her personal experiences as both a woman and mother, Matar’s ongoing series portrays female-identifying subjects in familiar settings, providing insights into the exploratory journey of independence. Her lens focuses on probing themes of personal and communal identity, using photography to depict female adolescence and womanhood in both the United States and the Middle East. And in another offering of cultural and political narrative, this exhibition debuts work by recent MICA graduate Amelie Wang. Within layers of color and storytelling, Wang communicates a tumultuous relationship with China’s deeply censored history; attempting to understand how the social structures in her home country have impacted her daily life as an individual and her family as a unit. These paintings provide the artist with a sense of grounding embedded in their swirling compositions.