Adria Arch
Adria Arch is an artist living in the Boston area. Her recent work features sculptures made from lightweight plastic and comprised of biomorphic shapes. Suspended from the ceiling and walls or floor, this work combines the formal concerns of painting while extending into space like sculpture, thus their hybrid nature. The individual pieces hang in relation to each other, creating an immersive experience that allows the viewer to enter the spaces and discover new viewpoints.
Arch has had solo exhibitions at Danforth Art in Framingham, Massachusetts, the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and the Hunt Gallery at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. She has completed site specific murals at Lesley University's Porter Square building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Stonehill College, and Danforth Art in Framingham. Arch has been awarded residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sanskriti Foundation in Delhi, and in Auvillar, France.
Her work is included in many private and public collections, including the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Fidelity Corporation and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In 2019, her work was featured at the Fitchburg Art Museum and, in 2020, at the Cahoon Museum of American Art. Most recently, Arch showed installations at the Boston Sculptors Gallery, Brattleboro Art Museum in Vermont and at the Danforth Museum in Framingham.
Artist Statement
I am a mixed media artist living and working in Boston interested in creating immersive experiences with sculpture and paint. I use cardboard, foam plastic and paper mache to create sculptural forms that populate my large-scale colorful installations. My work references the things that I see everyday — from neighborhood flower gardens to the ever-growing skyline of Boston. I often return to a vocabulary of shapes that includes ladders, grids and spirals. The installations I make with my painted sculptures are whimsical, playful spaces. By conjuring a fantastical world, I provide a space to experience both delight and surprise.
I am particularly drawn to the interplay between positive and negative space, where absence becomes as crucial as presence. This interplay creates tension, allowing for a sense of movement and rhythm. By juxtaposing vibrant hues with areas of quietude, I aim to evoke a sense of balance and harmony, encouraging viewers to find their own equilibrium amidst the chaos of life.