Clockwise from top left corner:
All Elsewhere, acrylic and water-soluble crayon on paper, 22 x 30 in., 2015;
Soft Dreams, acrylic, oil bar and water-soluble crayon on canvas, 20 x 20 in., 2016;
Burning Candle, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 in., 2016;
Circling Debate, acrylic, oil bar and water-soluble crayon on panel, 48 x 36 in., 2015;
Artist Lynnea Holland-Weiss;
Enveloped in Sweet Clematis, acrylic on canvas, 38 x 66 in., 2016;
Lynnea working in her studio;
Lullaby Blues, acrylic on canvas, 22 x 22 in., 2016;
Phantom Phones via Muscle Memory, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 in., 2016;
Guys/Directions, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 42 in., 2016
I am interested in our daily experiences, how we relate or ignore each other and what these interactions look like. My paintings are a way of charting contemporary people’s movement through space and time, and in this way, they can feel cinematic. The figures are often in a state of observation or reflection, which mirrors the experience of the viewer in an attempt to allow one to easily step inside the painting. These people are meant to feel familiar and relatable. I often intentionally blur the defining characteristics of race or gender and push unusual color combinations to address the equity of all humans. I have always been frustrated with the definitive black and white nature of words, but painting has an incredible way of holding complexity, subtlety, nuance and emotion.
“I see people. I paint people. I love people. ”
My current body of work also explores how time can be perceived and recorded within a painting. These paintings hold a lapse of time, allowing the past moments to layer into one another and simultaneously exist within the presence of the paint. Today, there is such a disconnection between our mind and body. We often are caught up anticipating future interactions or analyzing ones that have already happened. We have endless distractions all around us, and in our pockets, keeping us from experiencing the present moment. These paintings explore time within figuration, whether it is the perception of a delayed moment while the mind tries to process information, a portrait of a figure that just can’t seem to sit still or a merging of moments and people that have melded together in ones memory. When time can be prolonged or layered and I am able to overlap and merge the lines that separate one another within a painting, it allows us to feel and connect. We have rules and walls up to protect us, but so many of the issues that arise in our fast paced and isolated world are linked to the way that we separate and disassociate ourselves from one another. With the medium of painting, I am interested in dissolving these barriers to both reveal and reflect on our everyday human experiences.
Lynnea Holland-Weiss is a practicing artist currently based in Oakland, Ca. She has spent time traveling and living in other cities around the US, but is a Bay Area, CA native and received her BFA in Painting from California College of the Arts. Lynnea is primarily a painter, but also occasionally works in drawing, printmaking, animation and video. In addition to her studio practice, she actively paints murals and public work. She wants her work to be an accessible part of the everyday experience for someone stumble upon, in addition to being found in the gallery setting. Her murals and street work currently live both nationally and internationally. Before picking up a paintbrush Lynnea’s background is in dance, therefore her interest in body language and desire to make figurative work is only natural. She has always been drawn to the human form as her subject. Her process is very intuitive with the continuous layering of paint, moments and people. Her work is full of color and it doesn’t seem to matter who the figures are, just that we relate to them and have a sense of what they might be thinking. Her work has been featured in Juxtapoz, Fresh Paint Magazine, The Art Blog, Studio Visit Magazine and will be in the upcoming Pacific Coast edition of New American Paintings publication.