WILD WOMEN DON’T GET THE BLUES

Lindsey Kircher
On view: May 15th – June 13th, 2021
Opening reception: May 22nd, 3pm – 7pm

During this past year of uncertainty and introspection, Lindsey Kircher has made paintings of resilient female protagonists who reflect the bravest version of her inner self. Experiences of independence, transcendence, and renewal have inspired the central narrative of her work. Captured in moments of rapture or beholding, the women depicted traverse a variety of ecosystems with assuredness and curiosity.

Longing for connection with communities and environments that have impacted the development of Kircher’s personal mythology, she builds these saturated landscapes from memories of places that she hopes to revisit. Plants and animals are rendered as defined, sculptural forms, exuding the same clarity with which the women navigate their terrain. Repetition in patterns of scales and tentacles appear as individualized details that emphasize the resoluteness of the work.

Approaching this work from an environmentalist and feminist perspective, Kircher explores connections between women and nature. A wariness about anthropocentrism and climate change has led her to work with acidic, unearthly colors, that suggest both a psychedelic paradise and a post-apocalyptic planet. These women could be the first people on earth, or the last. Their solitude frees them from self-consciousness, liberating them to celebrate the capability of their strong, sensual bodies. 

The use of mystical, prismatic lighting, strengthens the impression that these women are intertwined with the primordial origins of nature, while also implying that they are not of this world. The subjects of the paintings are empowered by electric light and color to manifest actions of self-discovery and transformation. 

Lindsey Kircher received her BFA in Drawing and Painting from the Schreyer Honors College at the Pennsylvania State University in 2019. Kircher’s work was included in the 3 person show PUNCH at 5-50 Gallery in 2020, other recent exhibitions include CURE/rated, Bigotry: A Societal Cancer at PAVE Contemporary in London, UK and Joyride at Paradise Palase in Brooklyn, NY. Kircher’s  work has been featured in ArtMaze Magazine, Art Forum, White Hot Magazine, Metal Magazine, and the I Like Your Work Podcast. She will be featured in the upcoming South Issue of New American Paintings. 

Kircher is the current Post-Grad artist in residence at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA. As a student at Penn State, Lindsey was recognized with the Creative Achievement Award for the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State, and the Kara D. Berggren Award recognizing the most “outstanding piece of artwork” in the undergraduate juried show in spring 2019. She was nominated and selected to attend the Yale Norfolk School of Art in summer 2018. She has attended the Open Wabi artist residency and the Atlantic Center for the Arts residency.