NEW YORK, NY – Chelsea’s Agora Gallery will feature the original work of Monterey Bay artist Nancy Holleran in Portals of Perception. The exhibition opens March 10, 2017 and runs through March 30, 2017 with an opening reception on Thursday, March 16 from 6-8 pm.
As a painter, Nancy Holleran draws inspiration from her father’s photographs, which document his childhood in 1920’s Santa Clara Valley. Since her early years, Holleran has been fascinated with cultures—both foreign and domestic—that diverge from her own experience. This curiosity has led her to take her own photographs, which become the springboard for future paintings. “There are commonalities with all cultures around the world,” she says. “These are simple things: being part of a family, children and pets, social gatherings, love of the land and its beauty, shopping for food in open markets. They resonate with us all.”
Drawing on these commonalities, Holleran drafts watercolor scenes that capture the shared human essence from Key Largo to Hanalei. It is at times an unforgiving medium, she admits, but by deftly weaving in nontraditional techniques, Holleran is able to explore the bounds of expression and give something back to the world. “Art is such a wonderful means of communication,” she says. “It speaks every language.”
Nancy Holleran lives and works in the Monterey Bay Area.
Exhibition Dates: March 10, 2017 – March 30, 2017
Reception: Thursday, March 16, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat 11-6
Gallery Location: 530 West 25th St, Chelsea, New York
Event URL: http://www.agora-gallery.com/artistpage/Nancy_Holleran.aspx
Featured Artists:
Portals of Perception
Colin Grant | Sydnei SmithJordan | Ron Turner | Nancy Holleran | Shabnam Yousefian | Tanja Skytte
About the Exhibition
Portals of Perception: Deep Thoughts in Painting
Five painters of remarkable sensitivity come together for Portals of Perception, a new group exhibition presented this March by Agora Gallery. This small, concentrated group represents the many ways of paying attention to detail - in portraiture, in landscape, even in non-representational works. Three of the included artists are interested in setting the scene for us. One paints the terrain from a traditional distant viewpoint, but his images are gauzy and stylized: one city skyline appears as pure black on gray, looming through a fog, while another has buildings that resemble a family of brightly colored giants. The other two landscape painters give us street-level scenes, one depicting a vibrant watercolor world of sea sides and fishermen, the other offering rich, hyper realistic urban streets in oil. In both, the essence is of the moment. The exhibit’s abstract artist creates beautiful, understated textures with her acrylic, often in monotone to make the patterns sing all the more. The mixed-media portraits are premier examples of character studies: unapologetically unique women depicted in both traditional and non-traditional contexts.
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