CLAIRE HARNENZ
SELECTED WORKS
Orenda Art Works is honored to welcome you to Selected Works, from Claire HarnEnz. This is a virtual showroom exhibiting eight acrylic paintings created by HarnEnz in 2020. In this viewing room, you will be able to have a curated look at HarnEnz's recent works. Hover to zoom in and magnify details. Move from 'wall' to 'wall' to view the works accompanied by the words of the artist.
To inquire about works, contact us.
"It began when I started painting small landscapes based on the photos I took while living in Yellowstone National Park. But the paintings have grown, both in subject matter and in physical size. They grapple with bigger questions than just my quest to find a bit of Wyoming in Brooklyn. It returned to questions I asked while working on my linoleum print series, Chicken Bits, such as: Why do we feel such a strong need to dominate and order what is wild? Why do we desire more when we have plenty? Why are we fascinated with frontiers and the unknown?"
"I live in Brooklyn now but escape into the west everyday in my studio. I turn on my country radio and try to reconcile the world I choose to live in - the world of New York, of Instagram, of advertisements, and crowded subways - with the world that I know is out there. This reconciliation of the external and the internal is the basis of my recent series."
"In the paintings, I borrow the aesthetics of bright colors and repetition that I explored previously with prints and resin in college. Georgia O'Keeffe’s early paintings on New York City offer inspiration as she used the same visual language to paint buildings as she used for mountains. The sculptor Beth Cavenor’s depiction of animals influence how I paint horses. Her anthropomorphization of everything from rabbits to lions resonates with my experience caring for animals. Recently, I have been researching early depictions on the American West and comparing them to media references of the final frontier, as found in Star Wars. I am interested in the juxtaposition of the reality of city life with what is popularly desired-- the unknown, space, and adventure."
-HarnEnz