awesome easter weekend install at figure eight island of two large paintings by jenny nelson. hidell brooks is in awe of jenny's beautiful abstract paintings. 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. jenny teaches at the woodstock school of art. she lives and works in woodstock, new york.
although my early artistic training was focused on the classical and representational, it has always been my natural instinct to depict my surroundings in abstract forms. most of the paintings evolve as an intuitive reaction to my surroundings, be it interior space, inner space, or landscape. to evoke this kind of sensory memory in my work i apply 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 i could not have anticipated. in this way a composition is arrived at 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. focusing on particular shapes or compositions for long periods of time will often result in a series of closely related paintings, which have fully explored my current interest. 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 to me.
jenny's paintings will be included in our summer exhibition women in abstract opening july 11th and running through august 30th. a big thank you to our winston salem partner in crime scottie neal.