Sarah Bouchard Gallery in Woolwich presents “La Chimera del Oro” (“The Golden Chimera”), Josefina Auslender’s second solo presentation with the gallery, from April 11 through May 17. Featuring new work in ink alongside a selection of graphite drawings from her time in Argentina, this exhibition furthers Auslender’s presence as a master of drawing. At 91, she continues to push conceptual and technical boundaries with her work.
An opening reception with the artist will be from 3-5 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at the gallery, 13 Nequasset Pines Road.

For Auslender, the works in ink included in “La Chimera del Oro” are a personal exploration of both her time in Argentina, fresh out of school and her experience today. They are an interrogation of the illusions of wealth and success, a testament to the difficulty of forging an independent path as an artist, and an affirmation of the value of honest work.
“A chimera is like walking in the desert, and suddenly you see something shining, and you approach that, and it’s so brilliantly beautiful with all those different kinds of yellows and whites, and you approach more and more and more, but you don’t realize that at the same time it is very beautiful, it is very dangerous,” Auslender said in a prepared release. “It is like a science fiction story, and if you approach it, it swallows you up and takes you over completely. You go into a different dimension and forget all your aspirations. Because new things — exciting and important things — begin to happen to you, and you forget about the art because you don’t have time. You begin working for gold.”
This series pushes Auslender’s use of ink into a new realm of color and line. The depths of her work — she is known for her rich, dark swaths of black — remain, with the addition of vibrant explorations in gold, yellow, orange and white.
This exhibition will be on view concurrently with Auslender’s first solo museum retrospective at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick. Auslender’s work is also currently featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Buenos Aires, as part of Continente Oscuro, a survey of women in surrealism.
For more information, call 207-809-9670 or visit sarahbouchardgallery.com.
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