33 Contemporary Gallery | 3/1-4/1 | Chicago, IL

Coming into Being

Amanda Greive’s solo exhibition at 33 Contemporary Gallery focuses on the relationship between consumption and consummation.

For the past two years, Amanda Greive has been fascinated by the ephemeral moment between consumption and consummation.

“In the grips of the pandemic, we were consuming books and Netflix and taking all these deep dives into things we wouldn’t normally be thinking about,” she explains. “But we were also thinking about consummation—sometimes in the sexual sense, but also in the sense of an end point, and when the end of the pandemic is going to come to us.” Becoming What You’ve Always Been, oil on wood panel, 24 x 18"

A line by the poet Wilfred Owen captures the phenomenon: “Consummation is consumption. We cannot consummate our bliss and not consume. All joys are cakes and vanish in eating. All bliss is sugar’s melting in the mouth.” That fleeting moment of bliss is embodied in her paintings for an exhibition at 33 Contemporary Gallery titled The Breath Between Bites.

All the paintings in the show feature subjects in the process of being consumed by flowers. “It’s about the middle point, like being in the middle of a pandemic, and all of these subjects being consumed by flowers are coming into their own being, in a sense,” Greive says. “It’s a different way of being consumed.” Consumed 2, oil on wood panel, 16 x 16"

Mindful of social distancing recommendations, most of the paintings were created from reference photographs she had taken before the start of the pandemic. “Like most artists, I take a lot of photos, and often there’s a focus for a painting I had in mind, but others are just me flying by the seat of my pants, just thinking about what looks cool,” she says. With such a large selection of reference photos, she allowed herself to daydream. She bought bouquet flowers and contemplated how to work them into each image, explaining, “It was about finding a way to make it look like these women were really being consumed, as if it were something natural. I wanted the subjects to look like they were disintegrating, but not disjointed.” Penumbra, oil on wood panel, 33 x 16"

Home/Body 1, oil on wood panel, 24 x 18"

Greive sees the painting Becoming What You’ve Always Been as the anchor piece for the exhibition because of the way it captures the relationship between consumption and consummation. “There’s a suddenness to it,” she says. “All of a sudden, these flowers are coming forth from her body and consuming her wholly.” The subject is in the midst of a dramatic change, but with this evolution, she is able to become a more authentic version of herself.

While the transformation in Becoming What You’ve Always Been comes suddenly, in Consumed 2, it’s more of an evaporation. The subject clasps her hands against her chest as the flowers embark on a gentle takeover of her body. Consumed, oil on wood, 16 x 20"

In Home/Body 1, flowers encroach on both the subject and her environment in a slow disintegration. “In the back of my mind, I was always thinking about how identities were changing during this time, and how for many people that change was pretty drastic,” Greive says. “They’re changing, but they are also coming into their own.”

Inspired by the plant-buying craze of the early pandemic, Penumbra features a woman being consumed by a pothos plant. “There was a time when people were really trying to find ways to spend their time, and by taking care of plants, they had something to consume their thoughts and something to take care of,” Greive says. “It seemed like a way to step away briefly from the scariness of the pandemic.” Exposure, oil on wood panel, 16 x 16"

Even while people were stuck in their homes in a daily existence that often felt repetitive and unchanging, the act of nurturing houseplants was a reminder that some things were thriving and growing.

“I hope when people come to the show they can recognize that things and people are changing,” Greive says. “I hope they can embrace that change in themselves, give themselves grace, and be gentle with themselves and with others.”

The Breath Between Bites opens at 33 Contemporary in Chicago on March 1 and remains on view through April 1. —

33 Contemporary Gallery
1029 W. 35th Street, 4th Floor • Chicago, IL 60609
(708) 837-4534 • www.33contemporarygallery.com