Beyond the Visible at albertz benda
albertz benda Los Angeles is pleased to present Beyond the Visible, a group exhibition bringing together artists whose work explores the interconnections within our perceived - or imagined - realities. Artists in this exhibition construct worlds in which the tangible seamlessly merges with the metaphysical through interplays of vivid color, geometric forms, and repeated elements. Approaching space, psyche, and the natural world using distinctive techniques and personal narratives, works from Mevlana Lipp’s paradisical, unearthly wooden reliefs to Jin Jeong’s fluid and balletic “emotional landscapes” offer a source for contemplation and reflection.
Finding solace in the silence of nature, Mevlana Lipp and Sarah Lee paint metaphoric "other worlds" that possess the ability to momentarily suspend the relentless rhythm of life. For Lipp, the natural world offers a sense of stability and peace -- a physical escape from the chaos of contemporary living. Lee’s detailed paintings serve as poignant responses to the plights of human existence, infusing reality with a dreamlike quality and imbuing it with a sense of romantic volatility. New York based artist Jin Jeong’s paintings are rooted in a desire to create forms and spaces that allow for emotional interaction and resonate with an audience. Abstract, biomorphic landscapes possessing a sense of elasticity are materialized through shifts in tone and pigment.
Los Angeles based artists Camilla Engstrom and Kate Meissner create expansive universes within their paintings that encroach on the boundaries between reality and illusion. Anthropomorphic surfaces and saturated skies inhabit Engstrom’s scenes that capture the intrinsic essence of the human spirit with a touch of humor and surrealism.
In contrast with Engstrom’s spacious vistas, Meissner’s luridly lit and cramped invented settings offer little space for her subjects to thrive. Her obscure, phantasmagoric compositions - often framed by walls, windows, and stages - remove any illusion of depth and heighten a sense of anxiety-inducing confinement. The femme figures in Bianca Nemelc’s vibrant, sensual paintings, however, have ample space to flourish. They idle and lounge over luscious landscapes, emphasizing a kinship between the human body and the natural world.
Each artist within Beyond the Visible examines themes of subjecthood, nature, and the human soul through their respective constructions of transcendental, ethereal landscapes, and psychological universes.
