ANGELINA NASSO
Dates: May 19 – July 7, 2001
Opening Reception: Saturday May 19, 5–7 pm

Marcel Sitcoske Gallery is proud to present new work by New York based painter Angelina Nasso. This is the first solo exhibition of work by this Australian-born artist on the West Coast.
The atmospheric landscapes that Nasso paints are exquisitely rendered. The impression one gets from these impeccably made objects is an overwhelming sense of calm and serenity, brought about by the subtle manipulation of light and space. More than portray a specific location or capture a moment in time, they serve to create a meditative space for the viewer.

Nasso has grounded these works in a number of diverse artistic traditions. They are in part indebted to Chinese landscape painting, specifically from the Northern Sung period (960-1126), which Nasso was influenced by when she studied in Hangzhou, China. Artists of this period attempted to liberate the viewer from earthly concerns by portraying the more ethereal aspects of the natural world. Monumental mountain scenes opening onto vistas of limitless space were common subjects. Nasso has also looked to the European Romantic tradition of painting for inspiration, exemplified in the work of Caspar David Friedrich, who tried to capture the sublime in his breathtaking landscapes. She builds on these traditions in works such as Involuti (72 x 80 inches) with its mist-shrouded mountain tops and perspective high above the clouds. Similarly, in Realm of Luna (35 x 85 inches) a flat plain gives way to a rocky mountain range of cool greens as a fog bank cascades down its valleys.

These fantastical landscapes also demonstrate a link with photography as their smooth surfaces retain little trace of brushstrokes. They seem balanced between memory, dream and out-of-focus photograph: snapshots of a primordial world that never existed. Nasso is able to achieve these results because of her strong emphasis on technique and craftsmanship. She paints in thin layers over a base of sanded modeling paste, leaving a seamless surface that masks the labor behind it.

Make no mistake however; these are contemporary works to be sure. Although traditional in character, their hazy atmospherics often border on abstraction as with Nimue (76 x 80 inches)‚a cloudscape of black forms swirling about a pink tinged sky. It is this relationship between the surface of the canvas and the depths captured therein which enhances the power of these truly remarkable paintings.

A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York where she received the Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Arts, Nasso has also studied at the SF Art Institute. Her work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions in New York, Houston, San Francisco, and Padova and Pavia, Italy.