K. Imperial Fine Art is excited to present its first solo show of the work of Wendy Letven. Undercurrents delves into the metaphoric space between surface and the depths beneath, between the apparent stillness of the plane and allusions to underlying forces of nature at work at both microcosmic and macrocosmic levels.
As an artist, Letven has committed herself to an investigation of natural phenomena and interpreting them through the materials process-driven work. Organic and geometric patterns are combined in her sculptural works suggesting a collision of varying energies, rhythms and frequencies, with cast shadows that add a layer of ethereality to the materiality of the work. To Letven, they stem from a desire to draw in space. Her paintings are similarly charged with a sense of motion; the exuberance of line, texture, color and form, and like her sculptures, a dialogue between substance and light.
Each ink painting begins with the call and response of gestures stemming from an ink pour, a shape, or a line. Creating order out of chaos, additional marks are layered up giving shape to the negative space along the way. She uses the brush as an extension of her arm to create the arabesques which suggest waves, rivers, patterns, and the flow of the cosmos. At times she half closes her eyes when making her signature long brush strokes to better modulate the touch of brush on paper and tap into a natural gracefulness within us.
Where line and form imply space, it is color, transparency, and light that bring life to the work and elicit a more emotional response in the viewer as they recall sensations of warm versus cool, stormy versus calm.
Letven’s sculptural works also stem from a deep study of nature, flow, and pattern. Working from an extensive library of graphic shapes culled over the years, she layers pattern upon pattern in her compositions. A theme of the interconnectedness and a certain ebullience pervade the work which ultimately is a celebration of the mysterious forces of life that connect us to the natural world.
Wendy Letven is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation and painting in the New York area. She has created installations for Art on Paper Fair, the Flatiron Prow Artspace, Market Art and Design, and The Sheila R. Johnson Gallery at the New School, among others. Wendy is a MacDowell Colony Fellow and a recipient of a Workspace Grant from Dieu Donne Papermill in New York. Raised in Philadelphia, she received a BFA from Tyler School of Art and an MFA from Hunter College. She teaches Art and Design at New York University and at Parsons School of Design. Her works are in many private collections throughout the East Coast and in Europe. Currently Letven is working on three outdoor sculptures for the Riverside Park Conservancy in New York and is a finalists for a New York City Percent for the Arts Project for a public school in Queens, New York.
Undercurrents will be on view December 15, 2020 – January 31, 2021. The gallery is by-appointment only. Please contact kimperialfineart@me.com for inquiries.
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