Artist Jan Dilenschneider and France’s Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier team up for a show of her newest oils.
“Sun Through the Trees” has a beautiful iridescence and arrangement of color relationships that characterize well the paintings of Jan Dilenschneider. With a high horizon line, the artist has focused on the subtle nuances of reflected light at the bookends of the day. Dilenschneider also employs a sophisticated range of touch, juxtaposing soft and dry horizontal strokes with an upper layer of pronounced, expressive knife work.
Thirty paintings hang in Dilenschneider’s current exhibition, “Freedom of Expression,” at Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier in Paris. Through this body of work, the artist celebrates the artistic independence and capability afforded by pure expression. For Dilenschneider, color interactions are key to conveying her emotions during artistic experiences. “If words could say everything, there would be no need for painters,” writes Dilenschneider. “Painting is expression, making visible my emotion, sharing that emotion without words — only paint. The sensibility and mood in my work are expressed via color relationships either sharply contrasting or close in hue. I put color next to color and hope you can see them sing together.”
Jan Dilenschneider, “Sun Awakening 1 & 2,” oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in. (each), (c) Jan Dilenschneider
Jan Dilenschneider, “Bamboo Trees on Golden Skies,” oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in. (c) Jan Dilenschneider
“Green Trees in Golden Mist 1 & 2” are striking in this regard. The artist has painted two separate canvases of equal size, adding a new element to her creative equation. Although her forms appear less defined here, the viewer notices more directly the play of stroke, variety of tools used, and broader balancing of warm and cool hues. Further, the canvases seem to combine as one scene, but closer inspection reveals intelligent details that distinguish the pictures.
Jan Dilenschneider, “Gently Moving Waters 1, 2, & 3,” oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in. (each), (c) Jan Dilenschneider
Dilenschneider also imbues her work with political connotations, which reflect her passions for nature conservation and democracy. The freedom of choice, seen through her expressive mark-making and ability to hover between representation and abstraction, is a vital current that runs beneath each of her pictures.
“Freedom of Expression” opened on July 7 and will hang until July 28.
To learn more, visit Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier or Jan Dilenschneider.
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