Audrey Stone received her MFA from Hunter College and her BFA from Pratt Institute, both in painting. She also studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and was selected for the Artist in the Marketplace program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited widely across the United States, as well as in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, England, France, and Japan. Recent exhibitions include a 2018 solo exhibit of her paintings at Morgan Lehman Gallery, a two-person show at Muriel Guepin Gallery in 2015, and a solo exhibit of a thread-based installation on Governor’s Island in 2014. She has shown in group exhibitions at the Andy Warhol Museum, the Arkansas Art Center, the Columbus Museum, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Kentler International Drawing Space, ODETTA Gallery, Schema Projects, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Her work is in the collections of Cleveland Clinic, Credit Suisse, Fidelity Investments and the Amateras Foundation in Sofia, Bulgaria. Stone lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Artist Statement:
When observing shifting color and light in nature I find myself paradoxically experiencing both excitement and calm, a dynamic opposition I seek to bring into my work.
To create images that are simultaneously stimulating and serene, I employ subtle gradients of color in bands of varied widths. I’m excited by the way the eye and brain process the transitions from one color to the next, informing the viewer’s emotional and physical response to the work.
As I paint, I build each color towards what feels like a fulfilled moment before moving on to the next color. I move across the canvas as though taking a walk or marking a calendar. The transitions from one color to the next can register as fast or slow, undulating between warm and cool passages. Depending on where the viewer is standing, the transitions can appear sharp or fuzzy, as if the painting were vibrating, slightly distorting one’s vision.
My process entails both control and happenstance. Some works stick to the plan from the start, while others take an unexpected course. Over time, the paintings accumulate into series based on their underlying themes, which include loss, connection to others, and transcendence.