Polly Apfelbaum

Biography

Polly Apfelbaum (°1955, Abington) has lived and worked in New York City since 1978.

Her oeuvre is distinguished by a hybridized aesthetic that blends together traditions of sculpture, painting, and installation art. She deploys a wide variety of media in order to explore the boundaries between art and handicraft. Colour is the key element in her work, both visually and structurally. Apfelbaum adds materials, shapes and words into traditional abstraction materials. She has a unique way of utilizing space and often presents her work in unexpected places, like in the corners of a room or on floors and ceilings.

In 2013 Apfelbaum was awarded a residency at The American Academy in Rome. She has since expanded the site specificity of her work in order to create immersive and contemplative environments that continue her interest in the cultural aspects of colour and multi-sensory experience.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Dubuffet’s Feet My Hands, Frith Street Gallery, London (2018); The Potential of Women, Alexander Gray Gallery, New York (2017); Face (Geometry) (Naked) Eyes, Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles (2016), and Deep Purple, Red Shoes, Be-Part, Waregem, Belgium (2015). In 2018 Apfelbaum is taking part in Art Basel Unlimited and will have major solo exhibitions in the autumn at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham and 21er Haus, The Belvedere, Vienna.

photo: Jean-Pierre Stoop (H ART Magazine)