KESHA BRUCE’s “Magic Spells and Reminders” opens 2/26 at Morton Fine Art

Magic Spells & Reminders A solo exhibition of new artwork by KESHA BRUCE   Friday, February 26th, 2016 – March 17th, 2016 OPENING DAY RECEPTION   Friday, February 26th from 6pm-8pm The artist will be in attendance. Lexicon, 2016, 48″x36″, mixed media on canvas EXHIBITION LOCATION Morton Fine Art (MFA) 1781 Florida Ave NW (at 18th & U Sts) Washington, DC 20009 HOURS Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm Sunday 12pm-5pm   Made of Spirit and Royal Blood 1, 2016, 48″x36″, mixed media on canvas About Magic Spells & Reminders Magical-Spiritual belief is at the root of every artwork I create.  “Magic Spells & Reminders” began as a series of reoccurring shapes which appeared within my daily drawings.  These shapes soon solidified and grew into a set of symbols that I began to think of as a personal, magical alphabet.  Influenced by the dry heat and jagged, volcanic peaks of the Superstition Mountains, over the last 6 months I have created a spiritual lexicon inspired by endless sunlight and expansive blue sky of my new home in the Sonoran desert. Unlike my past work, these new works aren’t necessarily narrative in nature, rather they are intended to act as catalysts and reminders to bring about change.   The symbols themselves do not have fixed meanings. In fact, individual symbols may have several meanings, determined primarily by their placement within the painting and their juxtaposition to adjacent symbols. Just as many spiritual paths regard “speaking in tongues” as being a private language between a believer and The Divine, I regard the symbols I’ve created as a subconscious, visual vocabulary that represents spiritual concepts and ideas that range from the concrete to the ethereal and intangible.  The paintings I’ve created for “Magic Spells & Reminders” are meant to act as visual reminders of both spiritual and creative intent, tools or reflection and healing, statements of personal power, and in some cases a call to arms.  -KESHA BRUCE, 2016   Magic Spells & Reminders marks KESHA BRUCE’s 5th solo exhibition at Morton Fine Art.   About KESHA BRUCE Kesha Bruce creates richly textured and visually complex artworks that explore the connections between memory, personal mythology, and magical-spiritual belief. Born and raised in Iowa, she completed a BFA from the University of Iowa before earning an MFA in painting from Hunter College in New York City. Kesha Bruce has been awarded fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), The Vermont Studio Center, The CAMAC Foundation, and received a Puffin Foundation Grant for her work with Artist’s Books. Her work is included in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture,The Amistad Center for Art and Culture, The University of Iowa Women’s Center, The En Foco Photography Collection, and The Museum of Modern Art/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection.   She is represented by Morton Fine Art in Washington, DC. Click here to view available artwork by KESHA BRUCE.

Remember to Fight 2, 2016, 36″x36″, mixed media on canvas   About Morton Fine Art   Founded as an innovative solution to the changing contemporary art market in 2010, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can be cultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of innovative exhibitions and a new generation of art services.   Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009 http://www.mortonfineart.com mortonfineart@gmail.com (202) 628-2787

THE GUARDIANS Opening Reception and Artist Talk

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About the Guardians:

In the winter of 2011, Kesha Bruce awoke in the early morning hours to see a figure hovering silently at the foot of her bed. This brief moment of fascination, terror, and eventually wonder, has beenthe obsessive focus of her work for nearly three years. To date, Bruce has completed nearly 200 works based on The Guardians – a group of solemn, mysterious figures who act as watchers, keepers, and protectors.

Sidestepping the weight and implications of formalized religion forthe better part of her career, Bruce’s work has explored the fertile territory of memory, mythology, African-American folklore, and magical-spiritual belief. With The Guardians her work makes a shift towards questioning not only the place of spiritual practice in contemporary culture, but also the place of genuine spiritual experience in contemporary art making.

The show will run through January 8th, 2014