“Vibes”, vinyl paint on canvas, 8″ x 16″ diptych , 2024

Nansi Lent

9 Somers Drive, Rhinebeck | 917-880-1780 | Handicap Accessible | Open Labor Day Monday
rhinebeckfineart.com/nansi-lent | nansilent@gmail.com

Artist Bio

Nansi T. Lent is a painter in Rhinebeck, NY, who was born in New York and grew up in Coconut Grove, Florida.  She holds a BA from Boston College in Studio Art and a Masters in Visual Arts Administration from NYU. Painting for decades, she has exhibited widely in New York’s Hudson Valley region and beyond including The Katonah Museum of Art, The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, The Coral Springs Art Museum in Florida, Goggleworks in Reading, PA., The New York Public Library, The Starr Library in Rhinebeck and in numerous co-ops and private galleries.  She has received multiple awards and commendations.  Her work is held in several private collections.  Nansi has served on the board of The National Association of Women Artists and in 2018 founded Womenswork.art, a gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY. She is an Active Member of the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum.

Artist Statement

Through my work I explore the power of illegible text as a universal language that transcends linguistic boundaries.  It is about the collective unconscious, the evolution of language, the urge to write.  Over time I have invented a symbolic language that borrows from ancient symbols but represents no language system but my own, hybrid, created one, that continues to evolve with each new piece I make.  In a world where words can often divide, I seek to create a visual tapestry of nonsensical script and gestures that may resonate with viewers, regardless of their cultural or linguistic background.

Mine is a contemplative practice where I explore the use of calligraphic symbols to evolve a new paradigm.  My painting process is much like freewriting.  I think of my practice as Asemic Language, Automatic Writing and sometimes Language on Mars. I invite viewers to embrace the mystery and embrace their own interpretations.

I have been practicing Asemic Writing for years and think of it as layers of thought, rumination, emotional expression of the ineffable and the search for meaning, significance and memory of ephemeral inner language.

My process has evolved through years of art making, journal writing, meditation and prayer. We are endlessly processing our thoughts, often unaware. Writing thoughts down helps to create order and the illusion of wisdom.

Through the ruminating rhythm and enigmatic presence of illegible text and symbols, together with color, contrast, and often iridescence, I aspire to evoke a visual sense of poetic resonance, and, to pay tribute to the history and long evolution of handwritten language which is rapidly transmuting into digital code.