SHERIE’ FRANSSEN
Undertow
April 29–June 10, 2017
Opening reception:
Saturday, April 29, 6-8PM
Von Lintel Gallery is pleased to present new work by Sherié Franssen. The exhibition marks the artist’s
first with the gallery.
Sherié Franssen’s tumultuous paintings transmute lurid color and intimate forms into cinematic
orchestrations. Her all-over compositions defy and dissolve boundaries between figure and ground;
instead cultivating impassioned scenes that are felt before they are read.
Initially captivated at a young age by the Baroque images printed on holy cards, Franssen continues to
reference creative output from that era (specifically citing the appealing chaos observed in Matthias
Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece as a point of origin for this new body of work) but filtered though gutsy
abstractions and blurred, near-psychic visions.
“[Her] massive, vigorous paintings revel in the depth and saturation that are hallmarks of oil paint. In
reproduction, their extravagant thick surfaces are flattened and the organization of their vast spaces
becomes less easily legible; compressed, her paintings look like firecrackers or chrysanthemums. In
person, however, figures can be seen emerging from the depths of paint. Franssen is often inspired by art
historical images, from Mantegna to Philip Guston. When one comes face-to-face with her paintings,
much of the energy of the elaborately deconstructed and recontextualized canonical compositions carries through, bearing with it the resonance of centuries of connoisseurship and study.”
—Kim Beil, Art Ltd.
Franssen luxuriates in the off-limits; indeed agitating and bringing to the surface that which is compelled
by the undertow.
Sherié Franssen received a BFA in Drawing and Painting from California State University, Long Beach.
She has exhibited in galleries and institutions across California since 1995 and her work is included in the
the permanent collection of Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA. Franssen’s work has been reviewed
by the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Art Ltd. and New American Paintings. She was born
in Torrance and lives and works in Laguna Beach, CA.
For additional information or visual material, please contact the gallery at (310) 559-5700 or by
email at gallery@vonlintel.com.
