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Artist Lynn Sanders uses a mix of acrylic paints, stains and ink to create “certain chemical reactions” and works in layers to build up the composition, as seen here in the piece “Fiber Optic Bloom.” Courtesy Bryant Street Gallery.
Most successful artists will tell you that creating art is only one half of the equation, the fun part, while getting one’s art out into the world is the more challenging bit. It used to be that an artist had to undertake the lengthy process of creating a portfolio, which included photographs, an artist biography and statement, that would be physically presented to a gallery for consideration. With the advent of the internet and social media, just a click of the mouse can bring an artist’s work to the attention of a gallery owner.
This is exactly how Karen Imperial, owner of Bryant Street Gallery, found painter Lynn Sanders, who lives and works in Louisiana. She is featuring Sanders’ large-scale abstract paintings in a solo show titled “Lessons in Patience,” on display through Aug. 30.
But with the preponderance of artists sharing their work on platforms like Instagram, why did Sanders’ paintings catch her attention?
“I found her work surfing the web for abstract contemporary art,” said Imperial. “I’m originally from New York and have always had a deep love for abstract expressionism — it’s one of my favorite styles of art.”
Imperial went on to explain that her gallery, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in the fall, has never had a strict number of artists in its roster.
“Artists come and go as time unfolds. Group shows are a great way for me to ‘test the waters’ with a new artist,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll take a work on consignment and present it to my collectors to gauge interest. If the response is strong, then I’ll usually consider offering them a solo exhibition.”
Sanders, who is represented by galleries in Texas, Georgia, New Mexico and Louisiana said she did not know how she came to the attention of Bryant Street Gallery but said that now, after two decades of exhibiting, galleries are seeking her out. She recognizes how fortunate she is but also pointed out that, “The hard part is maintaining the relationship. You must produce — you must understand that galleries are businesses and they need artwork to keep their doors open. It’s a partnership.”
Sanders’ original goal was to be a fashion designer. She attended Louisiana Tech University and majored in marketing. After a career in shopping-center management and marketing, she “pivoted” into art and has never looked back. Her process is very hands-on, from mixing her own paints to applying them with a scraper of her own design.
Her paintings are composed of flowing, fluid veils of color, some opaque, some translucent, that are often layered upon one another. “There’s a real elegance to her compositions, and I had a feeling my clients would respond to it, and I was right,” Imperial said.
“It’s really me I am putting on the canvas. The chaos of life played out in applications of color. The color being my moods and in some cases the colors representing feelings I associate with people close to me,” Sanders said. “I can read the pieces over the past 20 years of painting and they are a diary of my life.”
Her process begins with deciding on a color palette and then mixing her own paints. She combines acrylic, acrylic stains and ink in order to get “certain chemical reactions and dilutions of color,” she said. She preps the canvas with tinted gesso, usually deep saturated colors, and then begins the layering process. She works on the canvas in a flat position, so the paints won’t run, and builds up the composition. She must wait for the layers to dry, so she often works on several pieces at once. She said that she usually spends a week completing one painting.
It is tempting to think artists who work abstractly create in a whirlwind of energy, with little or no planning. Sanders admits that her process is “chaotic and driven by impulse” but that time and patience (as indicated in the title of the show) play an important role too. “The work only comes together through deliberate restraint and time — teaching both me and the viewer that beauty often comes only when we slow down and let the layers settle,” she said.
When asked if she is a fan of the painters of the color field movement (which includes Mark Rothko, Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler), she responded that she follows the philosophy of Frankenthaler, who wrote, “You can’t prove beauty, it’s there as a fact and you know it and you feel it and it’s real … and it gives no specific message other than itself.”
For her part, Sanders said that we are bombarded daily with messaging, most of it negative, and that “beauty has fallen by the wayside — it’s become passé. Nowadays art is all about the message or giving voice to a cause.” She offered that, “Maybe the meaning of art is to create a more beautiful world to live in.”
“The Line Between,” seen here, shows how Sanders’ layering technique can create a translucent quality in her pieces. Courtesy Bryant Street Gallery.
It is easy to leave the world outside the gallery door as you contemplate the lightness and fluidity of her work. Colors seem to advance, recede and meld as the eye travels around the canvas. The translucent quality of the colors in “The Line Between” might call to mind a waterfall, while the careful placement of the color bands in “Fiber Optic Bloom” resembles a stained-glass window.
“What immediately struck me about her work was the balance; the softness of the colors mixed with brighter, bolder tones,” Imperial said.
Because of their abstract nature the viewer is free to find their own personal associations in her paintings, and that is fine with Sanders.
“Beauty — and enjoyment — is there a message buried deep in the layers?” asked Sanders. “Yes, but it’s a message of my personal emotions that I am not going to burden the viewer with. Just enjoy the work!”
“Lessons in Patience” is on view through Aug. 30 at the Bryant Street Gallery, 532 Bryant St., Palo Alto. An opening reception for Lynn Sanders takes place Friday, July 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the gallery. For more information, visit bryantstreet.com/art-exhibitions.
