SOLASTALGIA: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper

Heskin Contemporary presents SOLASTALGIA: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper by Nikki Lindt opening February 18th running through March 27th, 2010. A reception will be held on February 18th from 6 -9 pm.

SOLASTALGIA, from the Latin solacium (comfort) and the Greek, algia (pain)— which is defined as “the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and loves is under under immediate assault . . . a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at ‘home.’

Nikki Lindt’s focus is on her figures in the natural environment. They maneuver through landscapes, beaches, mountains and forests, often scurrying, bent over or attempting very direct contact with the terrain. “I paint the figures small to create a kind of tenderness for them and a false sense of harmlessness, and at the same time when hung as a group they can give a sense it is kind of scary that people are literally in every bend, nook and curve of the world.” There are no man-made elements in the paintings and the figures are engaged yet they seem a bit lost in their environments.

These small, punch-packing paintings are usually created in single sittings. Acrylic paint is sparely layered with large, gestural brush strokes, rendering blustery, nature-based scenes that look like dreams or memories. The acrylic paint is watered down looking almost like ink in the first layers of the paintings and often some of the first layers can be seen in parts of the final piece. Lindt’s figures appeared to be worked out in detail but when looking closer you see they are painted in a looser, gestural manner.

Nikki Lindt received her MFA from Yale University in 1997 and her BFA in 1995 from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. She has been the recipient of the Pollock Krasner Grant and the Environmental Culture Award/Grant from the Dutch Environmental Protection Agency. Nikki lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. This is her first solo exhibition at Heskin Contemporary.

Project Room: Myriam Babin: Artic Recent Photographs

Myriam Babin’s recent nine-day journey up the coast of Norway to the Svalbard Island deep into the Arctic circle, the photographer found herself captivated by the 24 hours of sunlight, and the constant evolving scenery.

Initially the waters among the fjords were silky and reflective. Heading north, the weather worsened, the sea took on a darker, more menacing character. Upon first encountering sea ice, the shipped slowed in order to navigate around the large pieces that could be icebergs in disguise. Other then the sound of sea ice brushing past the hull, there was an incredible stillness.

In these photographs, Babin sought to capture the meditative quality of the endless, austere landscape. She found solace in being at the ends of the earth.the earth.