Bound Rocks and Functional Women: New Work from Jared Handelsman and Portia Munson

Have you ever wondered what compelled Harvey Fite to stack dry rock upon dry bluestone rock to build the 6-acre masterpiece which is Opus 40? You can continue to ponder our human relationship with rocks and form at Bound Rocks and Functional Women, a two-person exhibition at Opus 40 running from July 4 – August 12.

In Opus 40s barn gallery, Portia Munson will be exhibiting a selection of Functional Women drawings and a botanical sculpture, Functional Women Planters. Jared Handelsman will be exhibiting bound rocks, sculpture, found objects photograms, and photographic documentation of site-specific sculpture.

Handelsman’s Bound Rocks are inspired by reading C.G. Jung’s “The Structure and

Dynamics of the Psyche”. In his essay Jung describes how the Psyche’s force of habit

is challenged by a changing environment. For Jung the Psyche is fragile by design so

that it can easily fracture and if it is able, adopts an attitude and a renewed sense of self

as a complex that is held together in an integrated fragmentation.

Munson’s Functional Women Drawings is an ongoing series of over 100 works on paper

documenting manufactured functional objects in the form of women or parts of women’s

bodies.

“I find these forgotten and discarded objects, and focus on each one in individual

drawings to investigate their subliminal messages. While these objects initially seem like

a humorous and slightly shocking anomaly, showing the commodification of women’s

bodies in tchotchkes, but when accumulated together the sheer amount and variety speaks

to the deeper issues surrounding society’s view of women,” Munson explains.

Jared Handelsman and Portia Munson share a home and studio in Catskill, NY. Portia Munson is represented by P·P·O·W Gallery, NYC.

Exhibit opening event July 11, 5:30-7 pm at 356 George Sickle Road, Saugerties, NY, is free and open to the public. Viewing from July 4 – August 12  is included in admission to Opus 40.