randian | 燃点

Galerie Huit is delighted to present the Hong Kong solo debut exhibition ’Time lapses’ by London based artist, Nogah Engler.

Engler (b.1970, Pennsylvania, US) depicts cryptic landscapes that point towards the idyll. Blushing fields and hollowed out forests seemingly emerge and recede simultaneously on the surface, evoking an evaporating mist. In real time, each painting reveals a complex layering system and concentrated areas of intricate detail within that both pays homage to, and creates a dialogue with historic classical paintings in the canon of Western Art.

‘Time lapses’ explores a non-linear interpretation of time, where the artist treats each painting as an archeological site, creating fluctuating moments between the past and present.

As a starting point, Engler draws from personal memories of a particular place that is deeply embedded in the collective psyche of her father’s family, one that has witnessed historic events and imprinted its legacy on three generations of the Engler family. Assimilating the information is where the artist’s practice begins – at the point no longer belonging in her personal domain, a different narrative emerges; it speaks of symmetry and balanced composition, a tangible way to sort through the psychological detritus. The Italian Masters of the Late Renaissance recognised the fundamental importance of the three-dimensional spatial plane and perspective when creating the perfect scene and whilst Engler acknowledges the legacy of this tradition, she propositions how a landscape can be defined in contemporary painting. Building the surface gradually, through a timely process of addition and removal, allows the artist to create segments, and as counterpoint to the representational work of the Fifteenth Century Greats, a landscape that never fully forms.

Through the appropriation of familiar classical iconography and its fusion with the artist’s own symbolism, there is disruption in the construction of a conventional idyll. Engler’s paintings could be interpreted as a form of collage. ‘After Nature’ weaves together imagery of delicate foliage, intricate embroidery and figures walking between ancient Greek friezes against a smoky horizon. The dualistic nature of humankind is demonstrated here, the ability to innovate and create, and equally, to destroy.

‘Looking Through’ and ’Altitude’ both breath light into the gallery where vertiginous heights of mountainous landscapes are teased into foregrounds via abstract strokes punctuated with scarlet flora and fauna. In ‘Traces’ a pastoral view is teased out from behind a lace veneer. Forests and fruit fall connect the paintings, emblematic of Nature’s riches. Offering alternatives to the conventional landscape and its beauty, Engler acknowledges this in the ‘Sky Line’ paintings with the depiction of rich red berries beneath bright blue skies. The scale of the paintings counterbalance the larger almost reserved pieces, to celebrate the smaller things. Discreetly picturesque, Engler pays tribute to the Romantics of the Nineteenth Century.

’Time lapses’ presents the tradition of landscape through an integrated lens. Engler’s careful and precise edits of visual information shift between both archeological pretext and the ecological, via nature and its environment. Throughout the exhibition, clusters of delicately painted birds hang chained to branches – a symbol of the human spirit to many, the bird represents a journey to the future and the ability to transcend time. Observing the exhibition here in the present, the artist subtly focuses upon ‘who we are’ and distills the moment of clarity before the lens fogs.

‘Time Lapses’ opens on the 19th January 2017 and runs through to 28th February 2017.

For further information please contact:
Carmen Ng on 852 2803 2089 or carmenng@galeriehuit.com.hk.

About Nogah Engler

Nogah Engler lives and works in London.
Recent exhibitions: 2015 The Epoch of Space, Changing Perspectives, Haifa Museum, Haifa, Israel, This just in: New Acquisitions, The Pizzutti Collection, Columbus, Ohio, USA, Drawing Biennial, The Drawing Room, London

About Galerie Huit (SOHO 189)

Established in 2010, Galerie Huit was founded by Jane Chao-Lee to promote emerging and established Asian artists. Due to the success of the initial four years, the gallery has relocated to a larger space at SOHO 189 Art Lane that comprises two floors totalling 2549 sq-feet, providing scope for a wide range of exhibitions and projects.

The expansion heralds a new chapter for the gallery with the inauguration of new partners to the team, Yas Mostashari Chang, Ali Yeh Cheng and Yvette Ho, and exhibition programme will explore beyond Asian art, introducing unique positions in contemporary art by a selection of emerging to established international artists.

Galerie Huit is honoured to serve as a platform in Hong Kong, for such distinctive perspectives, and to be part of the global art community.

After Nature, 2016, Oil on board, 80 x 120 cm

Sky Line 1, 2016, Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm

Altitude, 2016, Oil on canvas, 140.5 x 170 cm

Sky Line 2, 2016, Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm