In this body of work, Nehrling has no fear of color, creating the stunning abstractions she is best known for. Bold short stripes cut across the canvas, composing a crescendo of hues that sit together neatly while demanding to be understood. Peeking through the thicket of lines are multicolored iridescent fogs asking the question “What if?”.

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In a compositional language of maximalism, Nehrling’s work reflects our abundant access to information and entertainment that is at once the privilege and burden of contemporary life. The era of social media and rabid consumption of streaming content has amplified the 24 hour news cycle. Intensified political divisions, the pandemic, and her own aging further raise the stakes involved in the constant decision making of daily life.

With an almost synesthesic quality Nehrling’s compositions explore visual rhyming – the points and counterpoints of chromaticity strike chords and discords. There is a thrilling and joyful feeling of suspension and levitation in these pieces. They express exuberance, fear, delight and hysteria. There is a discernible vocabulary of flexibility and endlessness in the way the colors mingle and merge.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Biography      CV        Statement 

Martina Nehrling is a Chicago-based artist who received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA from the University of Chicago. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lake Forest College, and for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Chicago Arts Program.