LESLEY FRENZ
PALACE OF NOWHERE
J. Rinehart Gallery announces the exhibition, Palace of Nowhere, a series of atmospheric landscape paintings by artist Lesley Frenz, on view in the gallery, March 6 – April 10, 2021. Virtual live-streamed opening reception with the artist will be held on Saturday March 6, 2021 from 4-5 p.m.
Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu said, “come with me to the palace of nowhere, where all the many things are one”. With this exhibition of paintings, Frenz seeks to capture the feeling not just of a place, but of a moment in time. Particularly a moment in time where she found herself lost in dense fog in the North Cascade mountains this past Autumn. She notes of the experience “Not able to see much of anything, we were in that point of nothingness in the midst of being. And once we stopped seeking, we found our way.” In this exhibition, the Palace of Nowhere is there to find, but we must first lose ourselves in the seeking.
In conjunction with the exhibition, a digital catalog will be published with an essay written by independent arts writer and curator, Sarra Scherb.
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Moments found on wilderness trails in these Pacific Northwest mountains I now call home capture my heart and my imagination and move me to put paint to canvas. I carry them with me in photographs and memory until I am ready to allow them to spill forth in color.
Through paintings in acrylic and watercolor, I am seeking to capture the feeling not just of a place, but of a moment. Pulling forth from those memories, I begin each painting,building up layer upon layer of color and transparent glazes, allowing the composition to emerge as it will, until the surface is transformed into a representation of an experience of locale and moment in time. It is my goal that these surfaces convey the sense of atmosphere and mystery I find in these wild and untamed places, mirroring the wildness in us all.
Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu said, “come with me to the palace of nowhere, where all the many things are one”. In creating this body of work, I kept ruminating on a harrowing experience of being lost in dense fog in the North Cascade mountains this Autumn. Unknowingly, we had turned around 180 degrees from where we thought we were. Not able to see much of anything, we were in that point of nothingness in the midst of being. And once we stopped seeking, we found our way.
In these paintings, the fullness of abstracted mountains and limitless dense waters recall for me those moments, not of being lost,but being found and discovering union within the void. The white lines, sometimes window-like, create a sense of destination but also of detachment. The Palace of Nowhere is there to find, but we must first lose ourselves in the seeking.
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Artist Lesley Frenz is based in Mount Vernon, WA and has spent the last year exploring the Skagit valley, hiking through the NW wilderness capturing the light, movement and feeling she finds in her environment. Born and raised in coastal North Florida, she received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Florida where she studied Art History and Painting. Spending the past 10 years nomadically travelling through the US before settling in the PNW, Frenz has honed her sense of discovery and memory of place into her signature style. Her abstracted landscape paintings reflect her experience and the beauty she finds outdoors.