"Everything is from life; it’s just rearranged. And as you can probably see, I’m very drawn to Neoclassicism, Baroque, Rococo, and Gothic," Gretchen Scherer told us in an interview earlier this year, "I will say that when I paint, I want certain things to happen. I want your eye to go to a certain place, feel a certain emotion, or enjoy this color." This gets us into the mindset of Scherer's new solo show, Seeking an Exit, on view at Monya Rowe Gallery starting on October 17, 2024. The exhibition’s title engages with themes of escapism, solitude, loss, attachment, memory and renewal. In Trubetskoy Palace, Dining Room, 1914 (2024), Scherer focuses on the collection of Sergei Shchukin. After the Bolshevik party overthrew the government in 1917, Shchukin’s collection was nationalized by the government, and the Trubetskoy Palace became a museum. Today Shchukin’s collection is divided between the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, and the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.
Gretchen Scherer: Seeking An Exit
Monya Rowe Gallery, NYC // October 17, 2024 - November 23, 2024