ART CITIES:N.York-Mia Fonssagrives Solow

Mia Fonssagrives Solow is an American contemporary artist based in New York and Paris. As the daughter of photographer Fernand Fonssagrives and step-daughter of Irving Penn, Mia was born into and molded by a world of art and design. She continues to build upon this legacy as a celebrated sculptor, painter and designer of fine jewelry. She is renowned for her refined and whimsical aesthetic in both figurative and abstract forms in a range of mediums, from polished bronze to gilded wood to sleek enamel over fiberglass.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Leila Heller Gallery Archive

A dynamic retrospective by Mia Fonssagrives Solow, surveys the artists iconic works, from seminal abstract forms cast in bronze or carved from wood, to her most recent bronze and aluminum aliens and monumental fiberglass forms.  On one side of Fonssagrives Solow’s body of work is her uplifting “Forms” series, examining the multitudes contained within the simplified framework of scale and movement, form and color. The curving surfaces of each piece draw the eye from one exquisite line to the next, as everyday objects, such as a sail or an apple, are refined to the clean, essential lines of their form. What begins as a small lucite or wood maquette evolves to a monumental fiberglass sculpture towering up to 5m-high. For Fonssagrives-Solow, the negative space at the center of each work echoes her upbringing in front of and behind the lens of a camera. These empty spaces not only define the sculptures themselves, but also re-frame the world beyond. Her other most influential body of work, “Aliens”, is comprised of figurative sculptures made of polished bronze and aluminum, which explore the nature of artificial intelligence. Hearkening back to Early African art, the works in this series stand as powerful symbols of femininity, masculinity and otherness in a new age. Fonssagrives Solow’s metallic creatures offer a humorous commentary on the collision of technology and history, melding the pervasive role technology plays in the modern formation of the self with ancient totemic archetypes. Imbued with a name, a story, and a personality, each of these sculptures is equal parts human, alien and machine.

Photo: Mia Fonssagrives Solow, T-Rex-i, 2020, Gold Leaf and Guards Red Paint over Wood, 42 x 60 x 90 in, © Mia Fonssagrives Solow, Courtesy the artist and Leila Heller Gallery

Info: Leila Heller Gallery, 17 East 76th Street (off Madison Avenue), New York, Duration: 21/10/2020-1/1/2021, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, www.leilahellergallery.com