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Press Release

New York, February 2002 – Mitchell-Innes & Nash is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Kojo Griffin, Sarah Lovitt and Stephen Sollins. On view Kojo Griffin, Sarah Lovitt And Stephen Sollins from March 5 through March 29, New Work showcases paintings, drawings, sculpture and textiles by the three young contemporary artists and marks the first exhibition of their newest work. Kojo Griffin’s paintings of colorful fantasy characters, Sarah Lovitt’s wax casts of inanimate objects and Stephen Sollins’s re-embroidered vintage textiles all address the visual presentation of memory. Each of the three artists is represented in New York by Mitchell-Innes & Nash. Atlanta-based artist Kojo Griffin will exhibit 4 new paintings. Griffin's psychologically charged painted panels and works on paper explore the moral and physical consequences of human confrontation. With their recurring cast of contemporary fairytale character-types (such as elephant-headed men and quilted women) and their bright palette, the artist’s compositions appear at first glance innocuous or endearing. Upon closer inspection, the scene reveals one of aggression, trauma or psychic isolation with uncertain outcomes. Griffin’s work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the 2000 Whitney Biennial, and the 2002 Corcoran Biennial at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. In her new work, New York-based Sarah Lovitt transforms inanimate objects into talismanic mementos by directly casting them in wax, underscoring the contrast between their permanence and mutability. Included in the exhibition will be Staircase, a life-size wax cast of the worn stairs in Lovitt’s studio building, which recreates the impressions of years of footprints and brings life to their “memories.” Also on view will be Trunk and Quilt. Lovitt first exhibited her sculpture with Mitchell-Innes & Nash at the Armory Show in 2001 and has since then been featured in ArtNews and Sculpture magazine as well as national exhibitions. Brooklyn-based artist Stephen Sollins’s new series transforms second-hand embroidered linens into geometric patterns on a white ground. In each work, Sollins counts the number of stitches made in each color on the original embroidery. He then removes the thread and re-configures the embroidered scene into perfect squares. What is left behind is the ghostly memory of the original image, typically one of sentimental domesticity. Sollins has exhibited at many museums and galleries nationwide, including The Drawing Center in New York, the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, Florida, and the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC. Listing Information Gallery hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm, Tuesday through Saturday. An opening reception will take place at the gallery on Wednesday, March 5, from 6 to 8 pm. Mitchell-Innes & Nash is located at 1018 Madison Avenue, between 78th and 79th Streets. To preview the exhibition or for further information, please visit the gallery website at www.miandn.com or contact Robert Grosman at the gallery at (212) 744-7400. For press information or to request images, please contact: Stacy Bolton tel: (212) 721-5350 fax: (212) 721-0780 email: sbstul@aol.com.