While First Friday in September seemed to be bursting at the seams with art openings up and down Broad Street, Chase Lanier’s show at Sky City stood out in the mix. The venue housed a selection of his most recent work, with other prominent local artists engaging in a live painting demonstration in the back bar.
“These new pieces were predominantly made in the last couple months, save for three from early last spring,” Lanier said. “Those in the spring were the first to really achieve the use of thin brushstrokes to comprise most of, if not the entire, image.”
The intricacy of every painstakingly detailed stroke is evident in every piece, invoking a sense of calm and synchronicity. The iconic brick wall of Sky City was a fitting background for the seemingly simple yet thought provoking paintings.
“These new pieces were predominantly made in the last couple months, save for three from early last spring,” Lanier said. “Those in the spring were the first to really achieve the use of thin brushstrokes to comprise most of, if not the entire, image.”
The intricacy of every painstakingly detailed stroke is evident in every piece, invoking a sense of calm and synchronicity. The iconic brick wall of Sky City was a fitting background for the seemingly simple yet thought provoking paintings.
“I arrived at the thin strokes by linking the narrow space between broader brushstrokes,” he said. “The space remaining was a sliver of color that appeared so clean, I couldn’t not create more. What I enjoy about the thin brushstrokes so much is how they all work together to create a bigger piece. The small marks inform the whole pattern.”
Although a sense of experimentation is evident upon the viewing of the pieces, Lanier succeeds in crafting an almost impossibly effortless work of art that doesn’t fail to translate his passion for the craft.
“This time around I wanted to get in the flow with the paint, create work that had movement. Hence they are ‘flux studies’,” he said. “Each represents a gestalt of the parts working in cooperation. Other than that, there is no meaning that I have infused through the color or shape options. I simply gravitate towards what intrigues me. In retrospect, along with viewers’ observations, I can find [correlations] between the end product and myriad patterns in life: murmurations, linguistics, cellular biology, sound waves, flowers [and] cultural indicators.”
Lanier’s work will remain on display at Sky City for the rest of September. Works are available for purchase at the venue.
www.chaselanier.net
www.chaselanier.net
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