Nancy Lorenz
GAVLAK Palm Beach is proud to announce Nancy Lorenz's solo exhibition, Gilded Matter. Lorenz’s work is characterized by her innovative use of materials and techniques. For Gilded Matter, she experiments with gold leaf, silver leaf, cardboard, burlap, and jute. An opening reception will take place on March 8th from 4:00 to 7:00 PM.
In Gilded Matter, Lorenz explores the mystical and poetic qualities of gold combined with everyday materials including cardboard, jute, and burlap. She engages with precious metals to create mesmerizing and exquisite compositions. By combining these elements with her meticulous craftsmanship, she invites the viewer to explore the mysteries of creation. Each work captures the essence of alchemy, a process of transformation, in which base materials are elevated to a higher form through the artist's skill and intention.
Works in the exhibition are a part of an ongoing body of work that builds around the tension between everyday objects and the opulent. The rigid and zigzag edge of the cardboard adorned in gold and silver leaf catches and reflect shimmering light. Her work with burlap pulls the viewer in with its rich depth and weight, absorbing and guiding the vibrant hues of blues and oranges. Lorenz is an alchemist who transforms earthy materials, like burlap, into something ethereal.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a large 96 x 132-inch work entitled Flight, made on a wooden panel with gold leaf, lemon gold leaf, resin, iron filings, pigment, lacquer, and gilder's clay. Flight comes to life through its active and rich materiality. Lorenz builds from techniques she learned as an art restorer, showing her command and eagerness to explore various media in conversation with one another. She captures the full range of colorful chemical interactions happening between these materials from rich blues to dusty yellows. Lorenz augments and expands what each of the individual materials can give us, creating an expansive work that is both a landscape and an abstract painting.
The artistic practice and depth of Nancy Lorenz's work is evident in her use of sacred materials such as gold, combined with the humble backdrop of burlap. This interplay of luxurious and humble elements highlights her quest for transcendental beauty and intentionality in her creations. Lorenz creates works that are simultaneously ancient and contemporary, abstract, and representational, and deeply personal and universally resonant.