FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CYRILLA MOZENTER
"warm snow"

Adam Baumgold Gallery presents an exhibition of works by Cyrilla Mozenter, "warm snow," from May 20 through June 26. Included in the exhibition will be recent sculpture, felt constructions and drawings. "Warm Snow" is a phrase from Gertrude Stein's libretto Four Saints in Three Acts. Felt and snow are both insulators and make quiet. Snow is cold and felt is warm. Cold temperatures preserve freshness and in cold regions life is reduced to essentialities. A thaw, however, enables flow. In the Grail legends, Parsifal sets out on his quest in the month of May-and it's snowing: warm snow.

The exhibition will feature Polar Bear Pass VII, 2010 - the most recent of a series of banner-like industrial wool felt wall pieces in which bear and boot shapes are cut out and then inlaid (hand stitched) into position not unlike marquetry. Felt is a non-woven textile of ancient origin made from the compression of a tangle of animal fur and behaves in unpredictable ways. To stitch shapes within each other is to go against its natural inclination to buckle, stretch, droop, and torque-which brings an element of chance, adds unexpected dimensionality and provides the requisite resistance to Mozenter's working process.

Another work in the exhibition, is the sculpture Tomb II, 2010, that marks the emergence of the polar bear as an image in Mozenter's work. It is made of cream color industrial wool felt with the softness and density of flexible cardboard, hand sewn with pale grey silk thread. Its open back reveals an interior space and conveys the sense of an ancient tomb- in miniature. No armatures or additional supporting materials have been used. It is its own structure. Mozenter pushes felt to do what it doesn't want to do while maintaining its integrity as a material.

Cyrilla Mozenter's solo exhibitions include More saints seen at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, Cuts and Occasions at Dieu Donné Papermill, New York, Very well saint at The Drawing Center, among others. She has received two fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and two project grants from The Fifth Floor Foundation. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Arkansas Arts Center, Birmingham Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, New Mexico Museum of Art, New York Public Library Print Collection, University of Massachusetts- Amherst, Walker Art Center, and Yale University Art Gallery. Mozenter lives and works in New York City.

The gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11:00-5:30 P.M. A preview of the exhibition can be viewed at www.adambaumgoldgallery.com .For additional information, please contact Adam Baumgold at abaumgold@aol.com or (212)861-7338.

"Polar Bear Pass II," 2009
Pencil on industrial wool felt, hand-stitched with silk thread
58 ¼" x 76 ¾"

"Cave," 2007
Pencil on industrial wool felt, hand-stitched with silk thread
13 ½" x 16" x 4"

"Havva's Last Snowball," 2009
Hazelnuts, paper and glass
9 ¾" x 14" x 14"

"Tundra/Tablet," 2010
Hazelnuts, paper and glass
1 ¼ x 9 ½" x 16 ¼"

"More saints seen #5," 2003
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, wooden ice cream spoons, button and pearl
7 1/4" x 13" x 7"

"More saints seen #7," 2003
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, pearls, bugle beads
10 1/2" x 8 1/2" x 7"

"More saints seen #16," 2004
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, wooden ice cream spoon and pearl
7" x 7 1/2" x 4"

"More saints seen #18," 2004
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, button, toothpick, craft stick, pearls, bugle beads
13 1/2" x 16" x 16"

"More saints seen #29," 2005
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, wooden ice cream spoons
8 1/2" x 15 1/2" x 10 3/4"

"More saints seen #19," 2004
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, pearl, pin
11 1/2" x 10" x 3"

"More saints seen #11," 2004
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, pearls, bugle beads
10 1/2" x 9 1/2" x 9 1/2"

"More saints seen #32,"2005
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil
11" x 7 1/2" x 7 1/2"

"More saints seen #26,"2005
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, pearls, beads
11 1/2" x 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"

"More saints seen #22," 2005
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, pearl, craft stick
10" x 6" x 6"

"More saints seen #31," 2005
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, wooden ice cream spoon
11 1/2" x 9" x 7 1/2"

"More saints seen #21," 2004
Wool felt, silk thread, pencil, pearls, wooden ice cream spoon
8" x 9" x 11"

"Hold With Hope," 2009
Pencil, watercolor, gouache, cut-and-pasted paper on handmade paper
22" x 30"