Warm on the Feet

NAVA Contemporary is pleased to present, Warm on the Feet, a new online exhibition of artwork by Erin Treacy.

In this body of painting there is a growth in the layering of pastels, markers, acrylic and oil paint. A revelation in the scraping away. It is this push and pull within the canvases that inspires the title of this exhibition, Warm on the Feet. The warmth of the sun can provide growth, but the warmth of a compost pile can signal decay. The abundance bursting through seams, cracks, fissures, and fences interconnects with the decomposition of form to line, like flora to debris.

Through her practice, Treacy explores the cycles of life both in nature and oneself. It is impermanence and regeneration, naturalism and abstraction, yin and yang. Her paintings tingle the senses to find nooks of comfort – a hug, a nest, a cavern in this balance between dense environments. Drawing from the strata of biological and geological forms, Treacy is drawn to how the environment reveals time and how this cycle of growth and decay is mirrored in our psychological states. We too are ever adapting and transforming in response to the present.

In the painting Layers of Summer Fill My Insides, this tension is on full display. A vivid composition of purples, greens and reds invites the viewer to bask in the rich colors of late summer. The brain sees flowers…or is it fruit? A glimpse of a sliced lemon perhaps? Then quickly the title comes into focus. Not only do the colors and abstractions fill oneself with that feeling of a warm summer day, but the food on display literally fills one’s body with a different kind of nourishment. Treacy is adept at building this environment and exploring the interconnectedness. They invite contemplation rather than interpretation. Viewers glimpse the layered pulse of transformation – both the world around us and the one that moves quietly within.

Erin Treacy lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MFA from UMASS Dartmouth. Treacy has participated in a multitude of residencies internationally including the US, Canada, Ireland, Italy and both the Czech and Slovak Republics. Her work has been exhibited throughout the East Coast and Ireland. Treacy is the recipient of a Fulbright Research Fellowship.