The deCordova Museum recently announced painter Ann Pibal as the fourteenth winner of the institution’s Rappaport Prize. Previous winners of the $25,000 award include Suara Welitoff (2012), Ursula von Rydingsvard (2008) and John Bisbee (2003). The Prize is awarded annually, and is funded through the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation.
"I am honored and excited to have been chosen as the 2013 Rappaport Prize recipient," says Pibal. "The award will be of absolutely enormous assistance, both practically and as an accolade, as I continue with my studio projects."
Pibal’s paintings, characterized by geometric abstraction, were exhibited this spring in Los Dos at Steven Zevitas Gallery in Boston, and last year within the 2012 deCordova Biennial. Her latest paintings are executed on aluminum, and allude to the history of painting in her minimal, yet narrative, compositions. Pibal’s paintings in Los Dos were small, but grand in their vibrant color palette, decisive lines and careful brushwork. The surface is treated with the utmost precision; the contrast between loose and exacting brushstrokes creates a neat tension that speaks to the evolution of abstract painting from mid-century to the present.
"Ann is one of New England’s most exciting painters, and we are proud to be able to support her work with this prize," says Dina Deitsch, Curator of Contemporary Art at deCordova. "She uses color and a careful balance of precision and gesture to create abstractions that can be read as deeply psychological, narrative and even emotional landscapes. Ann’s painting pushes at the language of abstraction into thoughtful, new territory."
As a Rappaport Prize winner, Pibal will give a public lecture on September 26 at 6:30pm in the Tower Auditorium at MassArt.
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- Ann Pibal, 2TRS, 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston.
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- Ann Pibal, DLUV, 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston
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- Ann Pibal, ESQA, 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston.
