L A R A N I C K E L
PLANTS
oil on canvas . life-size (from 96" x 82" to 2" x 2") . 2013 - 2019
75" x 87" 2013
84" x 30" 2014
96" x 82" 2014
79" x 50" and 92" x 64" 2013
2" x 2" to 4.5" x 3.25" 2016
2019
"Isolated Fauna by Lara Nickel" by Logan Bradley, Frontier Blog, 2014
On first seeing Lara Nickel's hyperreal paintings I was intrigued, not only by the impressive technical ability that she showcases through her method, but also by her ability to cross pollinate the hyperreal style with a conversation about painting's illusionistic fallacies [....] Her work, situated on the floor, intrigued me in its blatancy of declaring that this was a painting, and nothing more. The plants [....] from Nickel's most recent body of work [....] declare the same. Cut out from the natural desert environment, and placed instead on a stark gallery-white background, her paintings speak more to the subject of painting as object than painting as illusion. This is where it's interesting though, as the subjects and their super-real renderings are all about illusion. But here Nickel flips illusion on it's head through the way the work interacts with the space. More installation than hanging, the placement of canvases resting on the floor or projecting out from the wall talk honestly to the structure of the grounds on which she works and clearly remove the concept of the painting as a window. It all adds up for a wonderfully confusing conversation that perfectly talks to the heritage of what painting was - illusion, and what painting is now - object.