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Rene Lynch
The Secret Life of the Forest
May 18 - June 23, 2007
hpgrp gallery New York is pleased to announce the exhibition of new paintings by Rene Lynch, The Secret Life of the Forest. The opening reception is May 18, from 6-8 pm. Contact Shuhei Yamatani for more information at 212 727 2491.
Rene Lynch’s new paintings from the series ‘Secret Life of the Forest’ present a group of mysterious tableaux in which girls are seen engaged with the forest landscape in intriguing ways. Like the Dryadic tree spirits of Greek mythology, Lynch’s girls seem at one with the forest and its creatures, whether enacting rituals of their own invention for the protection of the trees or simply lounging in the treetops. In these mid- to large-scale oil paintings, Lynch focuses on a group of girls seemingly cast apart into the forest, adrift and alone, and left to fend for themselves. Or perhaps they have chosen the refuge that the forest offers. As viewers we are left to negotiate the meanings of these paintings through our own memories of that richly existential time of life, and we are vividly reminded of its complex tangle of motivations and emotions.
Her figures painted in a smooth glazed realism are juxtaposed in painterly forests that read as theatrical “stage sets” for her imagined depictions of pagan mysteries. The dual painting approach pushes the viewer to a dreamlike understanding of the narratives rather than a realistic view of figure-in-a-landscape. As Rene Lynch has stated “these girls depicted in their nightdresses appear lost in the woods … are they sleepwalking? … or are you the viewer encountering these forest spirits in a dream world?
I am interested in the manipulations of desire and desirability inherent in this age of adolescence - that powerful and vulnerable stage of life full of sexual and intellectual yearning, when a child begins to break free and desires, like Alice in Wonderland, to see what is beyond the looking glass.“
Idyllic as these images appear, there are also hints of gathering malevolence at their edges, engaging the viewer in a disturbing dialogue with that psychologically loaded time in life. Crows pick at the branches, and rituals threaten ominous turnings. Lynch has chosen as her subject the crux moment of adolescence, the moment of balance between innocence and experience. It is a moment of life framed with edges of both beauty and cruelty, luxury and anxiety. As Lynch has stated, "There is a certain honesty to this time in life when intuitive nature is ascendant and the true nature with its raw emotions and untapped and confusing desires are on the surface.”
The tangled forest provides a similarly loaded backdrop to the activities of these girls. Simultaneously protective and threatening the forest has long been a symbol in fairy tales of both nature’s fecundity and its darker mysteries. It embraces and hides the girls while at the same time isolating and engulfing them. Lynch’s painted sky’s are often fogged or an unnatural red alluding to apocalyptic happenings on the edges of the forest world. As Lynch has written, “The young girls are a metaphor for innocence and vulnerability, protectors of untrammeled nature. The forest they inhabit is at once a refuge from and a symbol of the dark unknown, both of the unconscious and the greater darker side of our present world, menaced by terrorism, wars and global warming.”
In a moment of heightened ecological and political consciousness Rene Lynch takes us on an imaginative journey into the heart of the forest where the spirits still frolic, for now.
About the Artist
Rene Lynch lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA. Her paintings have been shown widely in gallery and museum exhibitions both nationally and internationally. She has been the recipient of prestigious fellowships including P.S.1 Museum, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and Millay Colony among others in the US as well as Oberpfãlzer Künstlerhaus in Germany and residencies in Austria and Italy. In 2006 Lynch showed at the Haus der Kunst (Contemporary Art Institute) in Munich, Germany. In 2007 her solo exhibition Gaze at Galerie Kaysser traveled from Munich to Cologne. As well as her solo show in May at hpgrp gallery New York, she will present new paintings at DFN and Jenkins Johnson galleries, new paintings at hpgrp gallery Tokyo and a show in Istanbul during the Biennial. Rene Lynch’s work is included in numerous prominent public and private collections including Swiss Re Capitol Bank, Joel and Sherry Mallin and Howard Tullman. Lynch’s new catalogue Gaze includes essays by ArtForum editor Nicole Rudick and German critic Cornelia Kleyboldt.
2008 |
Solo; Gaze Series Galerie Kunstlade, Zittau, Germany |
2007 |
Solo; The Secret Life of the Forest, hpgrp gallery, NYC, NY |
2006 |
Through the Looking Glass, Haus der Kunst Museum, Munich , Germany |
2005 |
Day Dreaming, hpgrp gallery, Chelsea, NYC |
2004 |
Balancing Act, Abrons Art Center, Henry Street Settlement, NYC ( artists’ panel, catalog) |
2003 |
Solo: New Watercolors & Etchings, Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Schwandorf, Germany |
2002 |
The Birds and the Bees, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY & Pfizer Gallery, Rhinebeck, NY |
2002 |
On the Waterfront, curated by Frantiska and Tim Gilman-Sevcik , Borough Hall, Brooklyn, NY |
2001 |
Living Doll, Islip Art Museum, Giordano Gallery, Oakdale, NY |
2000 |
Living Doll, The Work Space, Soho, NYC |
1999 |
Outer Boroughs, White Columns, NYC |
1997 |
Solo: Recent Paintings: MBM Gallery, Chelsea, NYC |
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS:
P.S.1 Museum, Studio Program Fellowship (2 time recipient)
Fellowship, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar (4 time recipient)
Fellowship, Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Schwandorf, Germany
Fellowship; Soaring Gardens Artists Retreat, Wyalusing, PA ( 2 time recipient)
Printmaking Award Scholarship , Manhattan Graphics Center, NYC
Fellowship, Millay Colony, Austerlitz, NY
Artists Grants/Artists Space, Artists Space, NYC
Fellowship, Palenville Interarts, Palenville, NY
SELECTED COLLECTIONS:
Howard A Tullman
Gabriella de Ferrari
Joel and Sherry Mallin
Maureen DiMenna
J. Seward Johnson
Thomas M. Kann
Swiss Re Capital Bank
Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Schwandorf, Germany
New York Public Library/Special Collections
Book Arts Collection, Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University
Mark Wasko
and numerous other private collections
EDUCATION:
Virginia Commonwealth University, BFA, Painting
New York University, The Business of Art, Curatorial Studies Program
Manhattan Graphics Center, Printmaking
Rene Lynch: previous exhibit at hpgrp gallery New York
September 10 - October 2, 2005
Opening: Friday, September 10, 6 - 8pm
daydreaming
Adela Leibowitz
Rene Lynch
Margaret Murphy
Rene Lynch
artist statement
My work explores that period of puberty that embodies pure spirit and an inchoate knowledge of power and vulnerability, when a child begins to break free and desires, like Alice in Wonderland, to see what is beyond the looking glass.
My images depict the blurred boundary dividing innocence and experience, and provide an intense examination of that nexus where childish fantasy collides with a growing realization of the body, of sexuality and its power. That cusp in life between the unselfconscious exuberance of childhood, and adulthood with its inevitable series of responsibilities and regrets. In that middle period the individual's savage, reckless, and extravagant traits are not yet tamed, before they are encultrated to society's expectations and limits. The adolescent's instincts are honed and sharp. There is a certain honesty to this time in life when intuitive nature is ascendant and the true nature with its raw emotions and untapped and confusing desires are on the surface. I am fascinated at how the body of a young teen reveals its inner vulnerability by the awkward turn of the shoulders, the inward turn of the foot or the expression on the lip. Smoothly worked with a glowing translucence, my watercolor and oil paintings are composed in a large empty field stripped of all that is superfluous, and in this way the central figure becomes iconic.
I draw inspiration from my own interpretations of the violent struggles, curiosity and coming of age stories of classic fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and mythology.
- Rene Lynch, 2005
