jenny nelson
painting in the light of day
jenny nelson attended maine college of art in portland, maine, and graduated with a bfa from bard college where she received a scholarship to the lacoste school of the arts in france. she has been living and working in woodstock, new york for 18 years. her early artistic training was focused on the classical and representational but it has always been her natural instinct to depict the surroundings in abstract forms. most of the paintings evolve as an intuitive reaction to her surroundings, be it interior space, inner space, or landscape. to evoke this kind of sensory memory in her work jenny applies many layers of paint, using gesture and an internal sense of color. traces of previous layers will remain visible, allowing colors to interact in ways they could not have anticipated. her compositions develop through a series of decisions that are both conscious and unconscious. with great sensitivity to these evolving colors and forms, a very personal abstract language emerges. she tends to focus on particular shapes or compositions for long periods of time resulting in a series of closely related paintings. the paintings are an ongoing process of addition and subtraction until everything on the canvas co-exists with a depth and intensity that seems balanced.
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laura sanders
chemistry: vapors, polymers, pheromones and light
the paintings in chemistry: vapors, polymers, pheromones and light are inspired in large part by the book the man who planted trees, by jim robbins. this book is about the amazing work of david milarch, who is planting clones of ancient trees all over the world. the story of david is told within the context of the fascinating scientific knowledge we have just begun to discover about trees. of particular interest to me is the “chemical milieu” of the forest. this mixture of turpenes, isoprenes, ethers, carbonyls, hormones and other compounds affect so many things like cloud formation, temperature, animal behavior, tree communication and human health. add to that the human contributions of polymers, pesticides, pollution and CO2 and we are awash in a chemical stew of influence that we are only beginning to understand.
in my work i paint directly, wet on wet, using the materiality of the paint to sculpt flesh and bones, flora and fauna. i want to construct a visceral experience that feels empirical and goes beyond the descriptive to explore the physicality of the paint. my subject matter joins the genres of landscape and figurative painting, portraying the figure as both natural and invasive to the landscape. in my paintings the human body, defined and distorted by sun, water, firelight and the green leafy light of the forest, coexists with the dazzle of manmade materials.
humans are transforming the world. we have created long chain molecules that defy the normal decomposition processes nature has evolved. i believe that our relationship to nature, physically and psychologically, is now the most pressing and important issue of our time. but who would think that danger would sneak up on us in such a beautiful and optically pleasurable way? it can be as beautiful as the sunlight shining through a plastic bottle reflecting spring blossoms. beauty can be a false messenger, silencing the alarms and telling us everything is okay. these were some of my thoughts while i created this body of work over the last several years.
-laura sanders 2019
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mary nelson sinclair
relinquish
“relinquish” is a realization of my creative process and how new motherhood has transformed my practice. this body of work began at the very beginning of my pregnancy and came organically, with my intuition leading me through the process. i began with a canvas and poured the paint directly on in an attempt to capture the medium in its moment of movement. the essence of motion and saturation of hues was blatant.
when i returned to my studio after the arrival of my baby, everything in my life had changed and i felt paralyzed. trying to recapture the techniques that i had previously developed was a bigger challenge than i had anticipated. i had treated motherhood in a similar vein, thinking i had figured it out and that i knew what to expect. these roles, artist and mother, have informed one another. i have learned that i cannot have full control over either situation, but i can act as a guide in both scenarios. working abstractly means that there is not a finite image that i am working towards. i can plan for a piece, choose a palette, and begin with a composition in mind, but ultimately the paint will take its own course and i can be there to manipulate it, with the end result possibly being different than what i initially imagined.
in the end, the most successful outcomes are a result of knowing when to let some things “be”. by surrendering myself to the unknown and letting go of my need to control, i have found clarity in life and in my work.
-mary nelson sinclair 2019
opening reception friday, november 1st from 6-8 pm
november 1-december 18, 2019