“Noon Has No Shadows”

November 12 – December 23, 2023

Marc Selwyn Fine Art

Beverly Hills, California

“Noon Has No Shadows” is a two-part exhibition at Marc Selwyn Fine Art and Hannah Hoffman Gallery that marks Mayer’s California debut. The exhibitions present sculptures and works on paper from a broad span of time — many of them presented for the first time since the period in which they were created —that highlight her various interests and her experimental use of materials.

An essay by scholar and writer Tausif Noor, entitled “The Presences of Rosemary Mayer,” was commissioned for the occasion and provides new insight into the works in both exhibitions.

In collaboration with both galleries, the Estate of Rosemary Mayer also organized a temporary outdoor installation with balloons. The installation, called Connections, was based on Mayer’s works with balloons from the late 1970s. It took place on November 11 at the Wallis Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. More on Connections here.

The presentation at Marc Selwyn features work from the late 1970s through the late 1980s. It includes drawings related to Mayer’s “Temporary Monuments,” such as projects with tents and balloons, some realized, other unrealized.

A series of sculptures made in 1984 with rabbit skin glue, vellum, and reeds, were inspired by classical Greek vessels. These relate to a series of watercolors depicting the vessels juxtaposed with text describing their function and foreboding phrases.

A later series of sculptures, from 1988, utilizes similar materials, but introduces color and recalls plant materials and forms. Floating on the wall in the main gallery are a couple of Mayer’s Flotsam sculptures from 1993, which also appear at Hannah Hoffman Gallery.