Artists: Carin Gerard - Rebecca Stenn

Gallery Henoch presents Carin/Rebecca, a two-person exhibition featuring still life artist Carin Gerard and landscapist Rebecca Stenn.

The first artist participating in this exhibition is Carin Gerard. Gerard’s subjects center on larger-than-life flowers and butterflies. Rooted in the methods of the Old Masters, her work takes on a modern approach with the use of Munsell color theory. Gerard’s paintings evoke ephemerality and the ever-changing beauty of nature. She explains, “The flowers I study and paint are living and dying in the same breath, and hold beauty at every stage… My hope is for my work to consistently offer an element of timely, provocative surprise.”

In this two-person show, Gerard presents her newest body of work. Certain pieces like Fantasy By Nature II focus on the way one monochromatic color presents itself when used in repetition, while others like Petal Power present colorful contrasting flowers, at time in shades of pink or in technicolor rainbow, against a complimentary background.

Contrasting Gerard’s hyperrealist still life subjects is Rebecca Stenn. Originally trained as a professional dancer, Stenn incorporates physical performance into her paintings, considering elements such as space and movement. About her creative activity she says, “I paint like I move through space; carving, pulling and expanding. I paint the way I dance - with sensuality and spaciousness, with strength and softness, with attention to color and line and abandon all at once.”

Stenn’s paintings offer places reinterpreted through the lens of movement. She paints abstracted landscapes with gestures that bring line, color, and shape to life, resulting in landscapes that quietly pulse with energy. Often her paintings showcase scenes of the Columbia Gorge in Oregan, like the diptych “Running Still”. Her newest body of work will feature a series of paintings showcasing the Italian countryside, like “Train Ride from Rome to Florence”.

Both artists treat their subjects with sensibility, coming together for this exhibition and bringing their personal experiences into their method of painting. As an ensemble the exhibition plays on the juxtapositions, while uniting themes of color, form, and technique.