Ptolemy Mann Thresholds II

Exhibition on View | New York

After the great success of Ptolemy Mann’s debut Findlay Galleries exhibition in Palm Beach, we are pleased to present Thresholds II at our New York Gallery location. Findlay Galleries will showcase the British abstract artist’s new and recent woven textile works and abstract paintings. This exhibition also includes her new series of abstract expressionist paintings called When Did we Become so Afraid of Beauty, a series of works created on black Arches paper that explore our relationship to darkness and beauty. The combination of her bold brushstrokes and fluorescent palette over the dark chalky underlay transpires to create a unique sensuality – a shameless and dark kind of chromatic beauty.

Mann graduated from her formal artistic studies at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art. Since 1992, she has been creating architectural and chromatic artworks for private, public, and corporate clients using her signature hand-dyed and woven technique. Her time-consuming and unique approach to creating her artworks has evolved in the past twenty years; she also creates large-scale acrylic and gouache paintings on Arches paper and canvas. Mann states, “In complete contrast to the exquisite slowness of the woven artworks, these paintings are punches of spontaneous, emotional color.” She expresses a deep sense of craftsmanship and precision and is heavily influenced by Abstract Expressionism and architecture, with the term “chromatic minimalism” being applied to her work.

Albedo

hand dyed and woven viscose thread

“Ptolemy Mann is an artist whose primary medium is pigment-dyed, hand-woven, stretched cloth. She is interested in the relationships between colours and their affective potential.  Through the slow, meticulous process of weaving warp and weft threads on a loom, Mann mimics the spontaneous gesture of paint on paper or canvas. Taking her lead from mid-twentieth century abstraction in which the illusion of depth was rejected in favour of exploring the surface, Mann’s woven pieces collapse support and surface into one, reminding us of the primarily textile nature of the canvas and the repressed history of the textile within modernism. For her, painting is an expression of the material world. Optical effects and natural phenomena inspire her to explore the possibilities of her chosen materials: dye, thread, paper, paint and time. Through their rapid and/or laborious application she creates a multi-layered meditation on light and colour.”

– Ann Coxon, Curator

Get in Touch

Contact our New York gallery for more information on the exhibition, or to schedule an appointment.

Thresholds

Large Works on Canvas and Paper

“For a long time, I’ve been interested in two specific things: accidental colour and unconscious colour. It transpires that these two ideas; when filtered through the act of painting, reveal a surprising vivacity and capture a dynamic colourful moment. In complete contrast to the exquisite slowness of the woven artworks these pieces are large scale punches of spontaneous, emotional colour.”

LØKKEN Paintings

works on Arches paper

“The synergy between the woven works and the paintings is striking – despite being opposites in their making process they share a surprising energy and connect to each other completely.”.

When Did we Become so Afraid of Beauty

“These paintings are an ongoing series of works created on black watercolour paper that explore our relationship to darkness and beauty. Their dark ground creates an extraordinary feeling of depth and colour. Three dimensional explosions of intuitive mark making. In October 2013 I went around the corner from my studio in London to see the Paul Klee show at the Tate Modern. I remember noticing that several of his paintings appeared to be painted on top of a black ground and the notion of what happens to a colour when placed over black stayed with me. On discovering this extraordinary, velvety black paper, designed specifically for watercolour paint in 2020, I began using my knowledge of colour theory to test the interaction of darkness against water and pigment. 100% cotton fibers seeped in black overlayed with chalky, gouache acrylic pigment transpire to creative a unique sensuality – a shameless and dark kind of chromatic beauty.”

Ptolemy Mann, May 2022

Her Dark Materials

Hand dyed and woven viscose thread

Get in Touch

Contact our New York gallery for more information on the exhibition, or to schedule an appointment.

James MuldoonPtolemy Mann Thresholds II New York Preview Page