Page 15 - the Noise April 2017

untitled elk
Raina Gentry: Coming Home Again
Raina Gentry creates complex, textured, tessellated landscapes, rich with deep hues of autumnal gem tones and sometimes lit with the luminous glow of what could be either the crisp, bright desert, or the maritime sky at night. Many of her works appear to have light shining from behind them as through stained-glass windows, an effect enhanced by a stark delineation of black, or sometimes primary colored lines that separate one section or element of the image from another — patterned boulders or the foliage of trees separate from the earth or sky by a thin slip of black, outlining the organic shapes. In other images, the earth itself appears tiled like a colorful chessboard or quilted like a child’s blanket laid down across fields.
Ms. Gentry was born and raised in Southern California, then moved to Arizona to attend Prescott College, where she majored in Environmental Studies. Her love of nature and the natural landscape is apparent in the way she approaches each tree, mountain, boulder and stream with considered care and detail. In 2002, she received her degree in art from the University of Arizona and has been creating her impressive body of work ever since.
When asked about the current work she will display in April in Flagstaff, Ms. Gentry described it as transitional. She said the paintings are a reflection of her life over the past year, as she moved back and settled into Prescott after living in Colorado for three years. The show is called “Home Again.”
“I wanted this body of work to be all about Prescott; the flora and fauna, the land- marks, the incredible landscape that I love so much, but that’s not what came out. The paintings for this show I refer to as transitional because they vary quite a bit from each other. They are not as cohesive as previous bodies of work, and express some of the chaos and upheaval of a big life change.”
Ms. Gentry says three of the paintings are an obvious throwback to an acclaimed series she did years ago, called the “Boulder Series.” Some are inspired by the desert habitats of Arizona, while others depict the big mountains of Colorado. Then there is the Buddha series, which she began in Colorado, but felt compelled to dive into again. “I found it very difficult to stick with on theme. My mind and feelings have been all over the map, but I find that this can lead to some very interesting art!”
Because of the unique style and techniques in Ms. Gentry’s art, I asked her to de- scribe her process as she paints. “My paintings have a life of their own. They evolve as I paint them. I may have a general idea about what I want to paint, such as a boulder field with a tree, or a mountain scene, and do some very crude sketches of the idea and placement of things, but then I just set to work very quickly. I’m very impatient. I don’t like to do a lot of planning or prepping. I just want to get to the painting.”
This impatience may well lead to the sense of fluidity and immediacy felt from her paintings, especially true in those of animals. As evidenced with the Coyote (opposite page), where Ms. Gentry is able to convey the feeling of suddenly coming across a wild animal while hiking a remote path: that moment of startling, expectation, excitement, and assessment ... before carefully going on separate ways.
Her images are layered, textured and have complex interactions between the shapes, shades, and patterns of color, intricate and seemingly painstaking. When asked about her process to create these varied effects, Ms. Gentry reveals there are usually any- where from 5 to 10 layers in any given painting. And that she always begins with black. “I think of it as the void, the dark, the mystery out of which comes the color, light, form, and eventually a story. The story is always revealed at the end of the work, evolving layer by layer.” Each layer plays a role in the end result, even those completely covered up, a hidden treasure to the keen observer.
the Wisdom of Nature detail, Red Boulders
by Jen Turrell
“People often ask me how long it takes to do one of my paintings, but that is a dif- ficult question to answer, because I usually work on many paintings at once. I jump around from painting to painting, putting some aside for long periods of time until I am ready to dive into them again. Currently I have around 20, all at various stages of completion. I have been working on them for months, with no concept of how many hours I’ve spent on each one. Suffice it to say, they take a very long time.”
One aspect of Ms. Gentry’s work that has been consistent throughout the last de- cade of work, and which could be called her signature as an artist, is that many of her compositions include the circular boulder shapes which emerge from layers of stamped patterns. “I think of them as little windows into the past. A past layer, which consists of patterns created with stamps and acrylic paint, which in the end is almost completely covered by subsequent layers, except for the little windows, usually in the shape of boulders. This is the painstaking and time consuming aspect of my work m— the process of covering up what I don’t want, keeping what I do, while simultaneously creating a strong composition with a very complex palette.”These patterns can be seen on the surface of boulders, the foliage of trees, in the swirls of sky and sometimes on the landscape of the earth.
Because of the unusual patterns and shapes that emerge from this very organic pro- cess of painting, the viewer might believe it to be some kind of collage or mixed media work. However, when prompted, she explains: “For the past decade or so, my work has been almost exclusively acrylic painting with some pen and ink work, on wood. People will often ask if my work is batik, watercolor or collage, oddly enough. Years ago, I did a lot more oils and mixed media work, with some collaged elements, but I switched to acrylic painting long ago.”
When asked about her artistic philosophy, this is what she had to say: “What I hope to convey through my art is my very deep love and sense of connection to nature. I believe people who are drawn to my work have similar feelings about nature and are reminded of it when they see my paintings. What I believe about nature is that it is the source of all things, and humans are just one aspect, and we wrongly claim ownership over it, instead of revering and caring for it. It deeply saddens me what we are doing to the earth, to nature, to animals. Although my work does not speak directly to this, I think that it is infused, at some level, with my feelings around these issues. I want to keep my work positive. As an artist, I am driven by beauty, deep emotions, and a belief in a compassionate relationship with nature. This is ultimately what I wish to express.”
In this show, Ms. Gentry has also included two paintings of Buddha. “I am not a reli- gious person, but I am spiritual, and the Buddhist philosophy resonates very strongly with me. This philosophy ties in with my beliefs and feelings about nature. I wanted to honor that philosophy and those beliefs with a series of paintings. So far there are four, and I plan to do at least a few more in the series. One of the paintings that will be in the show, Buddha is immersed in nature. He sits on a boulder, under the water of a lily pond, surroundedbylilies. Hishandgestures,or‘mudra’iscalledVitaraMudra,andrepresents the flow of knowledge, or Buddha sharing insights or teaching after he is enlightened. The story for me in this painting is that of the wisdom of nature, and if we could only ‘wake up’ and realize this, we could reach enlightenment or nirvana as Buddha did.”
You may see Ms. Gentry’s “Home Again” show at the West of the Moon Gallery for the month of April. Opening night will be during April’s 1st Friday event on April 7, 2017 from 6-9PM. To learn more about Ms. Gentry and see more of her work, go to raintree-studios.com.
www.thenoise.us | the NOISE arts & news | April 2017 • 15