Rachael Wren
My paintings use geometry to structure ephemeral atmospheric and natural phenomena. I am intrigued by moments in nature when air has a tangible presence, almost becoming visible — fog playing between tree branches, light peeking through clouds, the darkening sky before a thunderstorm. At these times, form and space seem to mingle; edges disappear and atmosphere becomes all-encompassing. To reproduce this sensation of dense, particulate space, I work with an accumulation of small, repeated brush marks of subtly shifting color. These individual marks echo the fundamental particles that compose all matter. They hover, shimmer, and vibrate between the crisp lines of an anchoring grid, an interplay that suggests the universal duality between structure and randomness, order and chaos, the known and the unknown.
All works by and courtesy of the artist.
Dynamic Equilibrium, 2013, oil on linen, 36 x 36 inches.
City Sky Cadence, 2013, oil on linen, 48 x 96 inches.
Blue Yonder, 2013, oil on linen, 20 x 20 inches.
Two Paths, 2013, oil on linen, 36 x 36 inches.
Overgrowth, 2013, oil on linen, 24 x 24 inches.
Inlet, 2013, oil on linen, 24 x 24 inches.
Marsh, 2012, oil on linen, 20 x 20 inches.
Rachael Wren is a Brooklyn based painter whose atmospheric abstractions have their source in both landscape and memory. She received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from the University of Washington. Her work has been exhibited at Jeff Bailey Gallery, Geoffrey Young Gallery, The Painting Center, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Fosdick-Nelson Gallery at Alfred University, among many others. Rachael is the recipient of the Julius Hallgarten Prize from the National Academy Museum and an Aljira Fellowship. She has been awarded residencies at Chashama North, the Saltonstall Foundation, the Byrdcliffe Art Colony, the Vermont Studio Center, the Anderson Center, and the Artist House at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Rachaelwren.com