Philip Martin Gallery is pleased to present, “Pink Palace,” an exhibition of new paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Laurie Nye. The show features new works exploring color as a powerful, emotive force, and place, both real and unreal.
Laurie Nye’s paintings ruminate on internal and external forces - the perceptions and sensations of things inside and outside ourselves - the personal and the shared. Nye’s “Emo Landscape” series, an ongoing group of works, focuses on “color exploration, rooted in a place I know and love with complicated feelings.” In Nye’s work, this place might be California or Tennessee - the American states in which Nye has spent much of her life - or it might be something entirely imagined. An image of Nye’s mother’s garden in Memphis, or a view from her father’s riverboat, appears side-by-side with fantastical landscapes, all equally rich with shape, line, color and expressive feeling.
Several of the works in “Pink Palace,” feature locations somewhere in between time and place. “I have been making works about place, some familiar, and some places I aspire to or want to escape to,” Nye comments. “I have had a book on Gustav Klimt‘s landscapes forever, that has some photos of his Vienna studio and garden. I painted that image as a kind of wish. I did the same with an image of Pierre Bonnard’s home, Le Bosquet.” These places of creative encounter mirror Nye’s own experience in the studio.
Other works included in “Pink Palace,” such as the large painting “Beauty and Scorn Tree,” reflect on one’s sense of oneself as, “a creative soul. What does it take to be vivid and life-affirming in one’s expression while also having a heart that’s sensitive to worldly woes?” One of the most active aspects in Nye’s practice is color, particularly with regard to its emotive power. “In some of my recent work, I’ve been drawn to the warmth of reds and mauves. Color in my work is something I lean into when there’s a lot of external noise. In creating a tone or mood, I can find a new place in the world to traverse, while tuning out the chaos.” Laurie Nye’s work offers personal escape and reflection, moments to consider who we are, what we want for ourselves and the world in which we live.
Laurie NYE (b. 1972, Memphis, TN) received a BFA from the Memphis College of Art (Memphis, TN) and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA). Laurie Nye’s work was the subject of the recent solo exhibition, “My River Runs to Thee,” at Philip Martin Gallery. Nye’s previous solo exhibition at Philip Martin Gallery, “It Wasn’t A Dream It Was A Flood,” was the subject of an Artforum Best-of-Year feature articles. Recent group shows include, “A Particular Kind of Heaven,” Parrasch Heijnen (Los Angeles, CA); “solid roots, supple trunks” (2023, Rachel Uffner Gallery, NY); “The Moth & The Thunderclap,” Modern Art (London, UK, 2023); “BodyLand,” Galerie Max Hetzler (Berlin, Germany, 2022); and “Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes,” Acquavella (New York, NY, 2022). Laurie Nye’s artist project, “Chickasaw Moon,” at Odd Ark (Los Angeles, CA) was an Artforum Critic’s Pick. Laurie Nye’s work has been seen in solo and group exhibitions at Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA); Van Doren Waxter (New York, NY); Bark Berlin Gallery (Berlin, Germany); The Pit (Glendale, CA), Odd Ark (Los Angeles, CA) and Big Pictures LA (Los Angeles). Her work has been reviewed in such publications as Los Angeles Times, Artforum, Artillery, FAD Magazine and LA Weekly. Nye lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Laurie Nye’s exhibition, “Pink Palace,” is online December 5 - 19, 2024. Works can be viewed at the gallery by appointment.
Philip Martin Gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday 11-5 and Tuesdays by appointment. The gallery is located at 3342 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles CA 90065. For additional images and information please call 323-507-2037 or email info@philipmartingallery.com.
