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Malcah Zeldis 2008

February 15, 2008- March 22, 2008

Reception: February 15, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Malcah Zeldis

Andrew Edlin Gallery

529 W 20th St

The gallery will present a retrospective of Malcah Zeldis' work, the first since 1988. Born in 1931, Zeldis is arguably the most renowned living folk artist still working in America today. Completely self-taught, her paintings were first spotted at an open gallery show at the Brooklyn Museum in 1973. Her first solo exhibit followed at Phyllis Kind Gallery in 1976. Other solo exhibitions include the American Folk Art Museum(1988), the New York State Historical Society(1993), the Yeshiva University Museum(2000), the Katonah Museum of Art(2002) in addition to many gallery shows. The American Folk Art Museum show was their first retrospective ever for a living artist. Her work has also been featured at the Smithsonian American Art Museum(Washington DC), the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the American Visionary Art Museum(Baltimore) and the Terra Museum of Art (Chicago). Public collections include the Smithsonian (on permanent display), the American Folk Art Museum, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of Folk Art (Williamsburg, VA), Akron Museum, the Jewish Museum(New York), Skirball (Los Angeles) among many others.

This exhibit features 24 oil paintings and gouaches from the early 1970's up to the present. Zeldis' paintings are known for their flat, naïve compositions and for their vibrant primary colors. Her subjects range from Old Testament scenes to portraits of heroes like Abraham Lincoln, Anne Frank, Martin Luther King and Andy Warhol. Sometimes she places herself in her pictures alongside her idols.

In her Art in America review of the American Folk Art Museum retrospective Amy Fine Collins noted : "Malcah Zeldis' paintings nearly jumped out of their sedate setting. The raw vitality of her naively rendered memories and fantasies seems to have welled up from a source not always available to more tutored painters. Zeldis returns art to its aboriginal purpose: a medium for wish fulfillment and magical thinking."

Books and DVDs related to artists in this show

Location map  Address 529 W 20th St, 6th Fl New York (Chelsea) NY, 10011 United States Phone 212-206-9723 Hours Tue-Sat 11-6 Add To Tour Nearby: All 24 galleries at 529 W 20th St

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