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Contemporary art gallery Atelier will present “Soft Ruin: New Painting by Andrea Granger” from March 13 through May 16.
Soft Ruin features 21 mixed media abstract paintings by Warsaw artist Andrea Granger. In a restrained palette of blacks, whites and neutrals, Granger evokes bone and stone in elegant compositions where figure and element merge. Fragile forms press against strong shapes, flesh intermingles with soil, and decay curls into renewal, according to a news release from Atelier.
Granger utilizes her own independent visual language and moves deftly between representation and abstraction. The result is the painterly expression of the interface between the organic and the constructed and an examination of the minute cyclical changes in life. The titular painting in the show is a sweeping panoramic work that evokes a tumbled topographic landscape. Titles like Os Sacrum, Marrow and Fragments of Cairn are reflective of the bone and stone forms that underpin these paintings. Soft Ruin is a poetic meditation on human life as flesh softens and motion stills. The fluid compositions contemplate the inevitable undoing of structure. The paintings depict what remains when memory fades and lived experiences become fable: the traces of shadows and faint imprint of what was.
According to the artist, “In this body of work, impermanence is not mourned; it is held. I view these paintings as an invitation to lift the veil and pay attention to subtle shifts, to see beauty in change, and to sit with softness and decay side by side.”
According to Atelier owner and Director Sea Grandon, “I am honored to be showing Andrea’s work for the second time. I launched Atelier with her debut solo exhibition in March of 2023, and that collaboration was a powerful statement of our strong belief in each other as individuals and as creatives. Much like the cyclical themes of Soft Ruin, I am circling back to another collaboration with Andrea to commemorate the success and impact Atelier has had in its first three years.”
The opening of Soft Ruin not only marks the third anniversary of Atelier, but also sets the stage for a year of programming at the gallery focused on female artists.
The gallery’s exhibition schedule, book club and other special events will be championing the female creative throughout 2026. Grandon goes on to say that, “Soft Ruin is a beautifully truthful exhibition, and that truth is both elegant and freeing. That which binds us will never last, and therefore, we are never truly bound.”
Soft Ruin opens March 13 and runs through May 16, with an opening reception on Friday, March 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. Atelier’s hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Atelier is a contemporary art gallery in Warsaw, owned and directed by Sea Grandon. Grandon is a contemporary art advisor and attorney. She opened Atelier in March 2023.
Granger is a painter and designer based in Warsaw. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she primarily studied painting. Her work can be found in important private collections in Chicago and Dallas and has been featured in Fort Wayne Magazine. Soft Ruin is her second solo exhibition with Atelier.
