Holly Lane, “Companions, The Three Graces” (2021), acrylic and carved wooden, 24 x 16 1/4 x 4 7/8 inches (~61 x 41.3 x 12.4 cm) (picture by Patrick Tregenza, courtesy the artist and Winfield Gallery; all different pictures John Seed/Hyperallergic)
LOS GATOS, Calif. — As carved, gilded, and embellished frames fell out of vogue within the mid-Twentieth century, one other concept took maintain: Trendy work simply wanted a easy strip of molding across the edge. Such hand-crafted frames, apart from being costly, screamed “antique.” When artist Holly Lane was an undergraduate portray pupil at San Jose State College within the mid-Eighties, she discovered herself observing that in line with mid-century ideas, “A good frame was to be inconspicuous.”
In response, Lane has spent almost 4 a long time exploring and exploiting the chances of reliquary-style frames echoing early Christian carvings and marginalia. In her artwork — which hybridizes portray and sculpture — every thing works collectively to create shrines to the pure world and honor its sanctity. On the entrance of Lane’s present in Los Gatos is the piece that offers the exhibition its title: “Not Enough Time to Love the World” (2022). It presents a picture of bubbles, an emblem of ephemerality. Straight above, carved into the body, is a winged hourglass that evokes the passage of time hovering beneath an arch symbolizing the span of our lives. In live performance, these photographs inform us that the contemplation of nature is now more and more charged by a eager consciousness of the threats it faces.
Holly Lane, “Not Enough Time to Love the World” (2022), acrylic and carved wooden, 13 x 11 x 3 3/4 inches (~33 x 27.9 x 9.5 cm)
The artist created “After the Storm” (2012), one of many extra private items within the present, when a compelled transfer introduced her to a brand new loca tion exterior town. Its intricate crown indicators triumph after hassle and the scenes revealed in its aspect portals — together with a starry sky, a duck on books, and two canines preventing over underwear — add wonderment and delicate humor.
One other work, “Gentle Muse” (2010), honors timber and their perform as gas, shade, building supplies, and prescribed drugs. The Gothic-style aspect carvings of its body recall the structure of church buildings and are complimented by cylindrical apothecary jars. The central picture of the tree, executed with graphite on mylar, has an elegiac high quality that works in live performance with the reliquary character of the body.
By way of her exploration of framing, Lane has invented new methods to current a secular sacred with nature at its heart. Her artwork, with its intertwined symbols and pictures, invitations a deeper contemplation of nature’s place and which means in a time of environmental disaster.
Holly Lane, “After the Storm” (2012), acrylic and carved wooden, 33 x 39 x 9 inches (~83.8 x 99 x 22.9 cm)
Holly Lane “Gentle Muse” (2010), graphite on matte mylar and carved wooden, 22 x 31 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches (~55.9 x 80 x 16.5 cm)
Holly Lane—Not Sufficient Time to Love the World continues on the New Museum Los Gatos by means of January 12, 2025. The exhibition was curated by Helaine Glick.
