Gladys Nilsson & Hend Samir

Parker Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new work by trailblazing artists Gladys Nilsson and Hend Samir. Emerging from different backgrounds and generations, this exhibition places their two practices in dialogue for the first time, highlighting each artist’s singular approach to world-building. New works by Nilsson and Samir brim with surreal, erotic and psychological undertones, influenced by reality yet rooted in evolving scenes that span the scope of imaginative possibility. Nilsson (b. 1940 in Chicago, IL) first rose to prominence as a member of the Hairy Who—a group characterized by an interest in vernacular art forms and sharp humor which emerged out of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1966—she has independently developed her singular voice over the past 50 years. Egyptian painter Hend Samir (b. 1986, lives and works in Amsterdam) addresses the social and moral codes observed in her home country and those from her current home. In dialogue, Nilsson’s works on paper and Samir’s paintings tackle the expansiveness of interior and exterior worlds. Nilsson’s newest large-scale works on paper combine long limbed figures in nearly impossible scenarios, entangled within each other and amongst densely packed trees and foliage. Some are nude or partially clothed, fully immersed in states of discovery, lust or voyeurism. Nilsson has long been fascinated by people’s unique mannerisms and individual expressions, which she observes and translates into multidimensional subjects whose eccentricities are lovingly exaggerated. In Samir’s swirling universes, abstract grounds inform the narrative arc of her compositions. People emerge out of and through lush layers of paint, in scenes that are both familiar and totally elusive. Her new paintings employ architectural and domestic elements—the corner of a bedroom, a staircase, lamps and chairs—to ground the composition within lived space, filling them with multiple vignettes of everyday life. Children idle on a bunkbed before bedtime, mothers tend to their children—seemingly benign activities that are abstracted and rendered psychologically charged through Samir’s energetic application of marbled paint. Space is an active element in each artist’s work. Dense areas of clouds, trees, leaves, water and other outdoor elements serve as the backdrop for Nilsson’s figures, who loom large within the composition, their bodies nearly meeting the paper’s edges. Samir’s interior spaces are cut open to reveal private moments, lending an observational, even illicit quality to the work. Both highly sensitive colorists, Nilsson and Samir work beyond the parameters of abstraction and figuration, sampling from their evolving personal lexicons to create utterly original work that touch on the complexities of human behavior.