Press Release - "As Above, So Below, As Within, So Without" by Lynnea Holland Weiss
Lynnea Holland Weiss
”Tell the Soil”
90 x 84 inches
2021
info@part2gallery.com
pt.2 Gallery
“As Above, So Below
As Within, So Without”
A solo exhibition by
Lynnea Holland Weiss
Opening Reception
Saturday, February 12th
Appointment Only 11 - 5pm
Public Opening Reception 6-9 pm
Showing Through March 4th, 2022
Schedule Private Viewing
pt. 2 Gallery is pleased to present As Above, So Below, As Within, So Without a solo exhibition of new paintings by Lynnea Holland Weiss. For Holland Weiss’ first solo exhibition with the gallery, this body of work depicts tender moments of embrace and support that in the same breath carry the weight of grief. The exhibition navigates the space between dichotomies and the relationships that bridge them together.
Set atop a bucolic blue sky sprinkled with clouds, two figures clasp hands, Support II (Weight). Rendered in skin tones with highlights of cadmium red and aquamarine blue, the two are caught in a compassionate moment – hunched over together, one carrying the weight of the other wrapped tenderly around their shoulder. As with the other paintings in the series, the figures are painted to scale to match the viewer, so that they may feel the simultaneous weight of support and weightlessness of the moment’s togetherness in flux. In Support III (Guidance), the outlines of arms reach from the clouds to provide additional stability, a gentle reminder to the viewer that any isolation they feel in the weight they carry is but temporary.
Lynnea Holland Weiss
”Support II (Weight)”
90 x 84 inches
2020
info@part2gallery.com
Such tender embraces fill the ground as well, in a series of paintings that corroborate the connections between the life cycle and our relation to the land. In scenes distinctly split between above and below ground, huddled figures hold one another tightly below the surface of the earth. Despite their close embrace, they wear forlorn expressions, recalling the pain which associates grief and loss. Nonetheless, like a candle that steadily lasts through the night, they keep their human form, their lasting memory ingrained in the lives of those they touched. As depicted in Dandelion’s Offering, it is the sweetness of memory that perseveres in the face of sorrow, as their bodies return to the earth, new life sprouts in its place.
In naming the exhibition Holland Weiss quotes Hermes Trismegistus, the ancient Hellenstic philosopher known to have originated as a syncretic combination of Greek and Egyptian gods and thoughts-systems. The citation As Above, So Below, As Within, So Without examines an interconnectedness of all things, and divulges a relationship between the material and spiritual world. In their paintings, Holland Weiss examines this interconnectedness by understanding dichotomies of love & fear, sky & soil, embrace & longing, warm & cold, and expansion & loss. While the tensions between these dualities are at times evident, much of Holland-Weiss’ moments of tenderness, support and the intangible break through these binaries and exist in ambiguous moments that draw from both sides.
Lynnea Holland Weiss
”Hankering Hands”
36 x 48 inches
2021
info@part2gallery.com
Lynnea Holland Weiss (she/they) was born in 1990 and was raised in the Bay Area. They are excited to be showing this body of work back in their hometown. Their background with dance and movement growing up specifically in Oakland, greatly informs their figurative painting practice today. Holland Weiss received a BFA from California College of the Arts in 2013. Their work has been recognized through recent awards, Artwork Archive’s Accelerator Grant, The Hopper Prize and Innovate Grant, as well through publications, New American Paintings, Juxtapoz Magazine, ELLE Magazine, and ArtMaze. Holland Weiss’ recent exhibitions include Galerie Sébastien Bertrand (Geneva, Switzerland), Shin Gallery (New York, NY), Field Projects Gallery (New York, NY), and projects with NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance). Holland Weiss has worked with LAND Studio on large-scale public projects in Cleveland, Ohio. They have also been a recent Visiting Artist at California College of the Arts and at Siena Heights University.