JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING – MAYA FRODEMAN GALLERY (formerly TAYLOE PIGGOTT GALLERY) is pleased to present Petal Tongue, a solo exhibition of paintings by artist Nancy Diamond, on view March 29th through May 5th, 2024. A catalog will accompany this exhibition with an essay by Anna Moschovakis. An artist reception will be held on Friday, March 29th, from 5 to 7 pm. Diamond will be in attendance. All are welcome.
Petal Tongue, the artist’s second exhibition with Maya Frodeman Gallery, showcases a selection of paintings which present the natural world in a heightened state and combine Diamond’s ongoing interests in optics and pattern with direct observation and invention. Diamond offers viewers a glimpse into a subliminal macrocosm as she skillfully navigates the convergence of outer and interior worlds; inanimate or sentient, her subjects remain in a state of becoming, straddling the familiar and the alien as her vision of them merges the observed and the imagined. Marked by an intensity of focus intertwined with a whimsicality of representation, her creations are tethered to realism and based on her observations yet susceptible to and reliant on her imagination and instinct.
Diamond’s exploratory works conjure scenes from the microscopic to the wide open. Though often precise in detail, they are filled with abstract and hallucinatory alterations. In Dusk Poppy, a single flower looms in the absolute center of the picture plane, under a clouded sky, and in a state of serene solitude. Elsewhere, flowers are similarly represented not as a part of the landscape but as the dramatic subject of psychedelic portraiture, such as in the works Red Tulip and Poppy Skirt. Diamond’s hyperfocus bestows dignity on her subjects, while captivating and drawing the viewer into a realm where the familiar becomes extraordinary. Nodding to the work of Arthur Dove, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Helen Frankenthaler, Diamond’s trees, clouds, and flowers are at once familiar and unfamiliar, and often have taken on a subtle anthropomorphism.
Diamond has built a significant body of work as she has explored what is possible with water media, after previously working primarily in oil. Diamond’s conceptual exploration is merged with the effects of the paint itself, as pigment reacts with binder, paint with paper, and moisture with atmosphere, sun, and light. Each petal, leaf and stem is forensically observed and celebrated, as Diamond invites the viewer to linger and explore the intricate details and vacillating abstraction of her creations. While the resonance between botanical and human forms brings an aspect of self-referentiality to the work, Diamond imbues her subjects with a sense of otherworldliness; under her eye, they transcend their earthly origins to become symbols of introspection and transcendence.
Nancy Diamond was born in New York City and earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design with a double degree in painting and film. Her work has been shown in exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Grants and awards include the National Endowment for the Arts grant and the Marie Walsh Sharpe/Walenta Space Program residency. She had been a long-time resident of New York City but now lives full-time in a mountaintop meadow in upstate NY, where she is an intimate participant in the infinite changes that take place season-to-season, day-to-day, and second-to-second.
