AMY BAY // The Book of Love

On view October 25-December 1, 2024
Opening reception Sunday, October 27 (1–3pm)

This month, Nationale is pleased to present Portland-based artist Amy Bay’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. The Book of Love is a meditation on the familiar comfort of floral motifs. This collection expands on Bay’s intimate portrayal of decorative scenes that unveil myriad webs of complexity and connection. The works are unapologetically lush, ripe with feminine symbolism that subverts traditional classification as merely docile and frivolous. For the artist, flowers instead shine as powerful arbiters of meaning.

Vibrant fuschia, viridian, and scarlet gardenscapes draw viewers in with their beauty, while repeating patterns begin to weave a thoughtful narrative. Borrowing inspiration from floral tomes and botanical illustrations, Bay’s renderings also expand on a personal archive of cherished references. These painted arrangements intimate joy, longing, loss and mark time in their own indulgent manner. Lilting and poetic, the yellow-hued pair Oh Me and Oh My compliment one another in form and gesture while radiating a tender warmth. Subtle differences in mark-making such as variable brushstrokes and shifts in positioning distinguish these works as individual landscapes. However, when observed in tandem, the use of an identical wallpaper source and color palette unequivocally links these canvases while their titles flow into one another in uninterrupted song.

The Book of Love continues to tease these commonalities in the accompanying drawings on raw-edged paper. Many of these works can be read as if unfolding sequentially, much like chapters in a book. The white bud in Magnolia blooms at its peak against a cross-hatched background while the faint blossoms of Camelias (rotting) near their end, engulfing the still life in subdued emotion.

As viewers progress through the exhibition, Bay’s flora similarly move through their natural stages of life. They gaze at each other from across paintings, cuddle up in clusters, console each other, show off, flaunt, and gaze brazenly back at the viewer. By imbuing these images with definitive characteristics, the artist gives voice to a cyclical harmony that surrounds us quietly and at all times.

Amy Bay (b. Elkhart, IN) is a painter based in Portland, OR. Bay holds a BFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Winchester School of Art. She also completed the London-based Turps Banana Correspondence Course for painters. Bay makes decorative floral paintings. She values the subjective, the emotional, and both the mysteries and traditions embedded in the painting process. Bay has exhibited her work in spaces on the West Coast including Nationale, La Loma Projects, Ditch Projects, Melanie Flood Projects, Adams and Ollman, and SNAG Gallery, as well as throughout New York City at Peninsula Art Space, The Painting Center, The Drawing Center, Printed Matter, Brooklyn Public Library, and The Bronx Museum of the Arts. She has shown internationally in group and solo shows, most recently at Casa Santa Ana in Panama City, Panama. Additionally, she has been awarded grants and projects from Oregon Arts Commission, ARTXIV and Forest For The Trees, The Rauschenberg Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Stelo, the Regional Art and Culture Council, The Lower East Side Printshop, Dieu Donné Papermill, and Women's Studio Workshop. Bay is represented by Nationale.

PRESS & MORE
Recommended Pick / Do Not Miss, Lindsay Costello, EverOut Portland, October 2024
The Latest, Art and About PDX, October 2024

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