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NINA TICHAVA
WEAVINGS January 9 - February 13, 2016 |
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
The gallery is pleased to present NINA TICHAVA: WEAVINGS - the gallery’s fourth exhibition of the artist’s abstract paintings. The exhibition continues through February 13th.
Tichava’s paintings are about relationships; she is interested in the interactions between materials and methods as well as the color and spatial relationships that naturally develop in process.
Using painting and printmaking techniques, she interweaves drawing and collage with a variety of media. Simultaneously painterly and constrained, her paintings are composed of complex layers, many of which are over-painted and concealed. A prominent element of this new body of work is the application of countless layers of stripes, painstakingly painted with a brush and individually applied strips of tape and paper and used to create screens and patterns. She describes her work as “abstract painting with botanical and architectural references”, as the pieces suggest natural forms (leaves, branches), man made structures (buildings, windows, lights) and patterning both natural and designed (woven fabrics, strata of earth, pixels).
Her works are emotional and imperfect, and as objects they embody her response to things mass produced and idealized; perfection is unattainable. The paintings are collections of moments from daily life: combined glimpses, thoughts, memories and objects. By design she is inaccurately trying to describe not only what things might look like, but also how they feel, which is where the beauty in it lies for her as an artist.
ARTIST STATEMENT 2016
I grew up on the threshold of the Information Age, straddling the divide between analogue and digital worlds. As a member of contemporary, post-pandemic culture, I watch as we move collectively into increasingly virtual and screen-focused existences. Yet, I continue artmaking with traditional media in an era when my extremely detailed and labor-intensive artwork might easily be made in Photoshop with a single keyboard click. Especially in digital image, a viewer might assume my work to be computer-generated whereas in person, the physical artworks are undeniably handmade. The idiosyncratic, human qualities of objects made by hand with physical media convey the poignancy—and impossibility—of trying to achieve machine-like perfection with inherently imperfect tools.
My main focus is painting, but I have recently begun pursuing printmaking as a compliment to my studio practice of 20 years. With all of my artwork, I develop my compositions organically, using the framework of a specific formal vocabulary: botanical and architectural references, lights, geological strata, and patterning. These references inform the overlapping layers of organic shapes that define this body of monotypes.
Compositional dualities—light/dark, hard/soft, fast/ slow, dense /open—are an important element in the monotypes. Within those juxtapositions, I densely layer organic forms, incorporating shadow drawings, hand drawn lines, stencils, and physical objects such as plants and weeds. My working process is a continuous, dynamic act of engagement until each monotype achieves a sense of flow and balance. Simultaneously improvisational and structured, these works become records of duration and experience.
NINA TICHAVA was raised in both rural northern New Mexico and the Bay Area in California. She was influenced by her father, a construction worker and mathematician —and by her mother, who is an artist and designer. The reflections of these dualities—country to city, pragmatist to artist, nature to technology—are essential to and evident in her paintings. Nina received her BFA from California College of the Arts [+ Crafts].
Tichava’s paintings are about relationships; she is interested in the interactions between materials and methods as well as the color and spatial relationships that naturally develop in process.
Using painting and printmaking techniques, she interweaves drawing and collage with a variety of media. Simultaneously painterly and constrained, her paintings are composed of complex layers, many of which are over-painted and concealed. A prominent element of this new body of work is the application of countless layers of stripes, painstakingly painted with a brush and individually applied strips of tape and paper and used to create screens and patterns. She describes her work as “abstract painting with botanical and architectural references”, as the pieces suggest natural forms (leaves, branches), man made structures (buildings, windows, lights) and patterning both natural and designed (woven fabrics, strata of earth, pixels).
Her works are emotional and imperfect, and as objects they embody her response to things mass produced and idealized; perfection is unattainable. The paintings are collections of moments from daily life: combined glimpses, thoughts, memories and objects. By design she is inaccurately trying to describe not only what things might look like, but also how they feel, which is where the beauty in it lies for her as an artist.
ARTIST STATEMENT 2016
I grew up on the threshold of the Information Age, straddling the divide between analogue and digital worlds. As a member of contemporary, post-pandemic culture, I watch as we move collectively into increasingly virtual and screen-focused existences. Yet, I continue artmaking with traditional media in an era when my extremely detailed and labor-intensive artwork might easily be made in Photoshop with a single keyboard click. Especially in digital image, a viewer might assume my work to be computer-generated whereas in person, the physical artworks are undeniably handmade. The idiosyncratic, human qualities of objects made by hand with physical media convey the poignancy—and impossibility—of trying to achieve machine-like perfection with inherently imperfect tools.
My main focus is painting, but I have recently begun pursuing printmaking as a compliment to my studio practice of 20 years. With all of my artwork, I develop my compositions organically, using the framework of a specific formal vocabulary: botanical and architectural references, lights, geological strata, and patterning. These references inform the overlapping layers of organic shapes that define this body of monotypes.
Compositional dualities—light/dark, hard/soft, fast/ slow, dense /open—are an important element in the monotypes. Within those juxtapositions, I densely layer organic forms, incorporating shadow drawings, hand drawn lines, stencils, and physical objects such as plants and weeds. My working process is a continuous, dynamic act of engagement until each monotype achieves a sense of flow and balance. Simultaneously improvisational and structured, these works become records of duration and experience.
NINA TICHAVA was raised in both rural northern New Mexico and the Bay Area in California. She was influenced by her father, a construction worker and mathematician —and by her mother, who is an artist and designer. The reflections of these dualities—country to city, pragmatist to artist, nature to technology—are essential to and evident in her paintings. Nina received her BFA from California College of the Arts [+ Crafts].
VIEW EXHIBITION
Billis Williams Gallery opened as George Billis Gallery Los Angeles in 2004. Tressa Williams joined as director in 2009 and became partner in 2021. Billis Williams Gallery builds on the Billis legacy and shows emerging to mid-career artists with a special focus on Southern California painters. The gallery is dedicated to exhibiting exceptional work in richly varied visual vocabularies ranging from abstraction to photorealism.
Billis Williams Gallery
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
[email protected]
www.BillisWilliams.com
Billis Williams Gallery
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
[email protected]
www.BillisWilliams.com