|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nancy Scheinman New Works |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"NIGHT FLIGHT - EXQUISITE ORNAMENT" |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nancy Scheinman is one of the most gifted artists working with collage in the United States. She creates mixed media paintings consisting of small and large pieces of various materials interwoven and delicately tacked onto a wood backing. The use of very small tack nails makes a surface pattern reminiscent of quilts. “The geometric arrangement of the compositional elements of my work is not unlike quilts women have pieced together as part of a universal spiritual and domestic experience” says Scheinman. Quilt making began in America as a domestic utilitarian art form, credited with making what is useful also beautiful. In time quilts began to tell the life story of the creator. Early quilts also relayed urgent messages that carried secret political incantations. Each segment has its own narrative, creating a kaleidoscope of stories. These become a visual diary of images. During a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art over 15 years ago, Scheinman accidentally discovered a show of Dutch floral painters that immediately caught her attention. Upon close examination she discovered the pieces that most intrigued her were painted on copper. |
"OF GATHERED PARADISE" |
“It’s like they were glowing” says Scheinman. The rich luminosity of copper has been a stable in Scheinman’s work every since. She doesn’t stop there. Her rich, luxurious surfaces are a combination of layers of paint, patterning, acid washes, photo emulsion, printed bronze, incised copper, vintage copper architectural features, wire cloth, canvas, antique tin, leather and plaster appliqué. In “OF GATHERED PARADISE” there is a center panel offering a glimpse of Nirvana illustrated by a jumping fish in a cool pond flanked by a bouquet of flowers, elegant trees line the drifting edge of a distant shoreline. The scene is not inhabited, but doesn’t feel isolated. The central panel is surrounded by typical Scheinman small pieces of romantic and natural worlds that welcome the viewer to momentarily enter and then pass on wondering the meaning of a bird, a nest, a dragonfly. The scenes are broken by incised patterns on copper. |
Scheinman’s love of landscape and travel can be seen in almost every piece in the show. Her interest in botany and botanical gardens combines with her desire to describe the effects of light. She seeks to capture the light at a given moment and bring it back to her studio. “NIGHT FLIGHT – EXQUISITE ORNAMENT” embraces that magical moment when the trees and sky are glowing in a pink/orange haze. Dark is coming, but when? The sky in this piece foretells of the cosmic effect of the night sky, imagined and descending slowly. Again the piece has a frame within a framework. The outer edges are filled with patterns, markings, old tin and copper patterns tooled by the artist. In some areas, prints overlay the incised areas, others are painted but all are feeling to be small worlds unto themselves. A mystical open hand is spotted or a ballet dancer. The viewer might identify some remnants of old wallpaper symbolic of an embellished or sumptuous visiting room. “GOLD SKY BIRTH THE RIVER DAWN” captures dusk in a more intimate landscape. A Grecian statue accompanied by a sensual offering of fruit in the foreground welcomes the viewer. The landscape of the mind is offered gardens to wonder and a possible disturbance of a volcano in the background. Again there is a frame within a frame, filled with iconic images like a butterfly, dragonfly, more flowers and patterns. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
