Jenny Nelson, New Works from Sun Porch forward, at Chace-Randall Gallery in Andes

Opening its sixth season on Main Street, Andes, Chace-Randall Gallery proudly presents new works by Jenny Nelson, May 7 through June 20. A reception for the artist will be held on Saturday. May 8, from 5 to 7 pm.

Working in oil on canvas and linen, Ms. Nelson’s gorgeous abstract renderings of line and light are widely admired and collected—from the Catskill Mountains to New York City; from Palo Alta, CA, to Atlanta, GA, where she exhibits extensively.

This new body of work first began with Nelson’s Sun Porch series, of which three small works showed in Chace-Randall’s Curator’s Choice exhibition, winter 2009. It began with a sense of grounding in Nelson’s new Woodstock home and studio. Jenny Nelson’s work changes organically from series to series. There are related shapes, lines, marks and color from older works that carry through to her newest pieces. “Some shapes are like coming home for me, so I find myself creating them over and over again, perhaps a bit differently, but they are always present, finding their way back in,” says the artist.

Explorations in gray are prevelant in this new series, cool and warm, as the variations are immeasurable, with so many subtle exchanges and contrasts. More familiar colors, the blues and greens, come alive in a new way beside the varying grays. “Gray reminds me of drawing, of soft pencils and charcoal. Applied with a brush, it can have a transparent quality that evokes line drawings, and so I tend to move my arm/wrist in way that creates a more free line,” says Nelson.

The shapes in this series have shifted, as well. Nelson’s new compositions are stronger, more daring. These shapes take up more space, are larger with strong internal motion. Yet Nelson still renders a beautiful, wonderfully awkward balance of her elements. Her light backgrounds (mixture of white, cinnabar green, and paynes gray) allow the shapes themselves to be fully explored, posing no distractions, simply a warm glow that cradles and illuminates cool blues and grays, accentuates small punches of red.

Nelson’s process remains the same, beginning with chaos, a multitude of color, shapes and frenzied marks and the gradual expansion of certain areas, and subtraction of others. A series of decisions, some conscious some unconscious, begin to create the sense of balance on the canvas. “It is eventually the very careful attention to all of these changing relationships which allow me to leave what I consider to be the most beautiful moments of awkward beauty, and tension, which contrast beside moments of rest,” she says.

A Jenny Nelson painting is finished when it achieves a perfect balance of spontaneity and artfulness, when not one more mark needs to be made. These are the paintings on exhibit.

Jenny Nelson attended Maine College of Art in Portland ME. and graduated with a BFA from Bard College where she received a scholarship to the Lacoste School of the Arts in France. She has been living and working in Woodstock, New York for 18 years including an Artist Residence at the Byrdcliffe Art Colony from November 2004 through 2008. Her exhibition history includes the Samuel Dorsky Museum, New Paltz, NY; Tria Gallery, New York, NY; and Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta, GA. This is Jenny Nelson’s third exhibition at Chace-Randall Gallery.

Chace-Randall Gallery is located at 49 Main Street in Andes, NY. Summer gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday and Holiday Mondays from 11 am to 5 pm, and by appointment. For more information call 845 676 4901 or visit www.chacerandallgallery.com.