Deeply, Satisfyingly, Unattainable

Angelina Nasso

MIWIS

February 26 – April 11, 2009

Winston Wächter Fine Art



The oil paintings in Angelina Nasso’s fourth solo New York show are not a surprise, nor are they surprising to look at. Large and sparingly titled, comprised of warm colors, blotched, blurred and streak-dripping down the paper; it is easy to see why Nasso has had so much success with her style. These paintings are easy on the eyes because they are equally reflective and dense-totally meaningful and completely meaningless. In Untitled #15 thick cascades of white paint hover around large masses of dark color, giving the illusion of depth, but the shapes are shadowy and undefined. Embers #22 is comprised of cloudy, watery patches of blue, violet and green, offset by warm red and yellow subtly draining toward the center of the composition.

Wandering around the gallery makes me feel like a child looking through windows in the rain. Nasso explains her work as reflections on the darkness of her childhood, where out in the Australian wilderness the lack of streetlights made the night into oscillating, pixilated shapes. For me, they are more like a state of deep meditation; the way the world looks when eyes are half open and the mind doesn’t bother to make sense out of the visual world. It is an area in space and time that where thoughts are still and meaning is not yet a tangible thing, only a feeling. It’s the reason Nasso’s paintings are so likable; they connect to the place that exists between consciousness and dreaming, between moment and memory. Their elusive quality is what makes them most appealing.