ILLUMINATION

ILLUMINATION
May 11 – June 14, 2024
Opening Reception Saturday, May 11, 4-6 pm

Andra Norris Gallery is proud to present a dazzling collection of paintings and photographs by artists Frédéric Choisel, Nina Dietzel, Mimi Jensen, and Donna McGinnis, and to introduce realist Terry Thompson with his first exhibition in the gallery. The work in Illumination considers natural and artificial light in its various forms and the ways in which it affects us.

Frédéric Choisel
French-American artist Frédéric Choisel, inspired by history, mythology, and poetry, created a series of oil paintings that depicts flickering flames on a rich black plane. The mesmerizing, dramatic works are inspired by the artist’s careful observations of nature, and they elegantly bridge realism with abstraction, drawing viewers in while conveying heat and intensity. The work also may hint at humanity’s psychological and spiritual longings.

Nina Dietzel
Borderlands is a photographic series of thermal images that reframes the cultural understanding of borders as sites of surveillance by focusing instead on the intrinsic character of the landscapes along the US and Mexico divide near Marfa, Texas, where Dietzel is based. While thermal technology is used by the U.S. Border Patrol and has visual associations with monitoring activity, Dietzel subverts this surveillance purpose by intentionally shifting the viewer’s attention. Instead, these images focus on objects in this environment that the camera wasn’t designed to pick up — and that we don’t expect to see: a pair of horses grazing in the sun, a looming water tower, the linear lines of train tracks, or the fan-like leaves of a desert yucca or agave plant.

Mimi Jensen
Artist Mimi Jensen returns to a favorite theme, interiors and silhouettes, with this new suite of oil paintings. The images are exaggerations and simplifications of reality, where the artist’s true narrative is known only to her, yet they also serve as a springboard for viewers’ interpretations. Figures depicted allude to and are based on the artist’s memories and imaginings. The sparse interiors are more concerned with shadows, coolness, and quietude than with tangible objects, thus offering a transformative and emotive experience for the viewer.

Donna McGinnis
Donna McGinnis’ abstract paintings are composed freely, without concrete ideas of what they will ultimately be. As an intuitive painter, McGinnis’s paintings come into being without preconceived ideas. With the swirling of brushwork and the layering of glazes, McGinnis creates her signature-style oil paintings that glow from within with a softness that hints at light on land, sea, and sky.

Terry Thompson
We are honored to exhibit Terry Thompson at Andra Norris Gallery for the first time. His realist paintings concentrate on the depiction of old neon signs that have made their mark on Western urban centers and are now part of the modern landscape. The artist sees these sculptural signs as historically and emotionally charged metaphors for the unrelenting passage of time, and he strives to reveal the hidden beauty of these relics by rendering them with honest consideration and tenderness in oil paint.

Thompson, who looks for beauty in the often overlooked, also paints various “Pop” culture products that contain interesting typography and graphics on their packaging. We are delighted to be presenting works from both series.

For more information, please contact Andra Norris.

ANDRA NORRIS GALLERY
311 Lorton Avenue
Burlingame, CA 94010
gallery: 650 235 9775
info@andranorrisgallery.com
www.andranorrisgallery.com