Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York is pleased to announce its sixth solo exhibition of work from New Orleans-based painter Nicole Charbonnet. Her latest pieces represent a continuation of Charbonnet’s exploration of “the illusion of originality” and the use of appropriated imagery that has been layered, deconstructed, and erased.
While previous Charbonnet works have incorporated iconic images of America taken from cartoons, film stills, and artwork, the paintings in her new series focus on the study of lines and linear components of prominent artists. In a process that is both additive and subtractive; each painting is built up over time with numerous layers, collaged, sanded, scraped, carved, repainted and modified in various ways, becoming a metaphor for the phenomenon of recollection. The implied simplicity of the word ‘line’ is belied by Charbonnet’s rigorous practice. “The lines that took other artists minutes to paint, took me months and years to build up with collage, paint, modeling paste, marble dust and plaster.” To achieve her textural paintings Charbonnet appropriates pieces by artists known for line-work including: Bridget Riley, Bruce Martin, Ellsworth Kelly, and Christopher Wool.
Charbonnet uses memory as both source and subject. “Just as our minds retain numerous layers of ideas, feelings and images, the surfaces of my paintings retain a palimpsest memory… Each painting a materialization of the silent unfolding phenomenological experiences of perception, cognition and memory.” Instead of becoming apprehensive about the derivative nature of her work, Charbonnet pays direct homage to her predecessors in order to illuminate the process of creativity.
Nicole Charbonnet is a New Orleans based artist whose work has been shown throughout the United States and abroad. She holds an M.F.A from Boston University.
Please join us for an opening reception with the artist on Thursday, February 20th from 6 to 8 pm. For further information, please contact Amanda Snyder at 212-255-2718 or nygallery@winstonwachter.com.
