Eleanor Harwood Gallery is pleased to present PRE-FALL, our first solo show with Jenny Sharaf.
Known for her bold and bright paintings, California artist Jenny Sharaf presents PRE-FALL, a series of new paintings on fabric. Sharaf explores the intersection of contemporary art and fashion, investigating the industry’s constant need to outpace global trends with every new season and every instagram post. The exhibition’s title is a nod to the fashion and art world’s need to be always new and forever relevant, especially as affected by digital ethos, disposable forecasted trends and social media.
Poured on the canvas in a stream of consciousness, Sharaf has a personal affinity for the materiality and historical context of paint and fabric. In the works, Sharaf has chosen a combination of pre-fall inspired tweeds, tartans, and ginghams as the base surface. Layered with loud splashes of color, the works create a tension between homogenization and expression, high and low brow culture, and fashion trends of the past and the present. Sharaf makes clear references to au courant runway looks from Gucci, Miu Miu, Chanel and Opening Ceremony, as well as reflecting on the canon of art history. “I want these paintings to feel like a fashion-forward avant-garde, art-power bitch headed to the Guggenheim. I’m also interested in the abstraction of high-fashion streetwear,” says the artist.