About this Event
Join us for the opening of Molly Metz: Rock Garden
Rock Garden is Molly Metz’s third solo exhibition at the gallery. Over the past five years, Metz has developed a unique approach to painting whereby natural phenomena are transformed into highly detailed abstraction that evoke aquatic and terrestrial life forms as if viewed under a microscope. Some paintings exit the earth entirely and enter the realm of outer space where strands of illuminated matter exist within midnight blue portals—in this instance more telescopic than microscopic. She paints (and sometimes collages using newsprint) worm forms, threads that conjure unraveled DNA, capillary and vein-like structures, organelles, and biomorphic shapes seemingly suspended within an aqueous soup. Metz has only become more exacting with her mark-making over time, creating tiny pointillist gestures that build to become both decorative flourishes and what seem to be renditions of diatoms (single celled algae that take on fantastical shapes). Counterbalancing this, Metz often paints the reverse side of her paintings, a secret surprise distinguished by a more extemporaneous, gestural style than the tightly controlled work on the front.
Molly Metz has a BA from Kutztown University (2014) and an MFA (painting) from Tyler School of Art (2016). Metz has had two one-person exhibitions at Fleisher/Ollman, Close Closer (2021) and Vernal Pool (2024). Other solo exhibitions have taken place at Day Space, Philadelphia and Friends Indeed, San Francisco. Metz has been featured in group exhibitions at Peep, Fjord, Pilot Projects, Woodmere Art Museum, and Space 1026 (all in Philadelphia); YUI Gallery, New York; and Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR. She was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant in 2025.
Molly Metz, Bloom, 2026, acrylic, Flashe, collaged newsprint on canvas, 35 × 33 in (88.9 × 83.8 cm), double-sided
Event venue & nearby stays
Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, 915 Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, United States
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