Artist Statement

As an artist, I am informed by an interest in folk art, anthropomorphic fables, allegory, organic abstraction and veneration for the natural world. Using paper-cut, collage and pinpricks on paper, I work to construct textured and layered images that appear otherworldly and fantastic.

My approach to paper borrows from textile processes as much as it does from drawing and painting.  By working on the front and back-side of the paper, the surface is handled by hand as if it were fabric and often multiple panels are joined in a single piece to make paper quilts. Pinpricks on the surface of the darker pieces are especially affected by light. These darker backgrounds are made by building up thin layers of gray paint on paper which is then rubbed with powdered graphite. The surface is punctured with a needle and finally hand-painted cut and pasted collage pieces, along with various minute sizes of hole-punched paper are laid on top.  

I'm interested in making a connection to narrative textile traditions that have a lineage of carrying encoded messages and telling symbolic stories.  Many of the pieces are populated with plants, insects, birds and animals. These biomorphic forms are meant to emulate an emotional presence and qualities of the supernatural, so that there is a sense of blurring between the earthly and spiritual, as occurs with fairy tales or myths. Some of my more recent collage drawings incorporate abstractions, depicting small details, macro views and pattern arrangements. When pairing down to hone in on simple shapes and forms, I am nonetheless interested in revealing a kind of dynamic organization that involves rhythm and repetition, a sense of aliveness and a balance of interrelationships.

Artist Bio / CV

Lena Wolff
Berkeley, California
info@lenawolff.com

EDUCATION
2003 MFA Printmaking, San Francisco State University, CA

AWARDS
2006 Semi-finalist, SECA Award, SFMOMA

2006 Artist-in-Residence, Blue Mountain Center, NY

2003 Artist in Residence, Hall Farm Center for Arts and Education, VT

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009 Gatherings, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA

2004 I Can See the Truth Shining in the Eyes of Every Misfit, solo exhibition, The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2003 Bedrooms and Forests, The Lexington Club, San Francisco, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2008 Small Wonders, Garson Baker Fine Art, New York, NY
2008 3, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2007 New Work, Aqua Art Miami, Aqua Wynwood, Traywick Contemporary, Miami, FL
2007 New Work, Julie Baker Fine Art, Nevada City, CA
2006 New Work, Aqua Art Miami, Traywick Contemporary, Miami, FL
2006 Paper, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2006 Biophilia, Needles and Pens, San Francisco, CA
2006 Close Calls, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2005 Nonetheless, Needles and Pens, San Francisco, CA
2005 Monster Drawing Rally, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2005 The End Will Come, mural, Clarion Alley Mural Project/Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2004 Conjure, The Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco, CA
2004 New Work, Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA
2004 Supernatural, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2002 Open H-art, The San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA
2000 San Francisco Drawing Show, New Image Arts, Los Angeles, CA

PUBLICATIONS
2007 Artweek ‘Paper’ at Traywick Contemporary
2007 East Bay Express (Emeryville, CA) Paper Trail
2006 The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Animal Charm

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Alameda County Arts Commission, CA

Cleveland Clinic, Lyndhurst, OH 

JP Morgan Chase, NY

San Francisco Arts Commission, CA 

GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Traywick Contemporary