Studio Visit: Laurie Nye

In March, I stopped by Laurie Nye's studio in Los Angeles' Highland Park neighborhood while she was creating her latest body of work, which can now be seen this month in her show, "My River Runs to Thee" at Phillip Martin Gallery. 

Her two-room studio space is optimized with a rolling pallet cart, works in progress hanging on each wall, and organized quips of inspiration from her personal library.  While visiting, I imagine the slow infusion and thoughtful process of creating these works, and I wonder what can be gained when we sit with visions for months at a time to fully know them.

Laurie Nye's paintings enchant us to step closer into the artist’s rosy memory gaze and divine meditations. The earth is soft, the light is bright; kinfolk and kindred spirits from her life in Memphis and Los Angeles linger in frozen harmony. Rich textures tease art nouveau shapes and pair with Laurie's psychedelic, even electric, color palette. The waterfalls of color further heighten ephemeral moments with loved ones and with the self.

At times, memories are precise feelings, at other times the imagination forms more imagery than the facts do. Either way we can transcend into belonging in the beauty that is accessible to each of us and honor our connection to it.  

Please enjoy these works while they're on view at Phillip Martin's beautiful new gallery space if you can. Two spacious gallery rooms are filled with her paintings and then continue to extend into the gallery's office lounge and reception area. The show runs through September 30th.

Words and images by Katie Pilgrim.