Alicia LaChance
more exuberance please

April 18th 5-8 pm

Ancient worn temples and the fluency of Japanese printmaking are the inspirations for artist Alicia LaChance's paintings. LaChance uses fresco on canvas, spontaneously painting layers as well as scraping into these works. As the pigment is stained into the wet plaster, the image and color start to appear. Afterwards, she transfers transparent glazes of oil onto the painting, creating a lacquered surface which adds to the Asian references.

The sepia toned nature expressed by using tar with resin also imbues an antiquated quality mixed with a strong graphic abstraction of color and shape. The powerful combination and reaction of color, shape and surface creates a visual tension of material and subject that lends dynamic energy to the painting. The vignettes of color and shape create a dialogue between the abstraction and the natural quality in the imagery of painting.

The fresco on canvas creates a tactile surface, juxtaposed with a shiny veneer. Combining color with the material translates an ancient undertone of material and immaterial as well as content of surface and substance.

LaChance's work was recently acquired by the Flat files, Contemporary Museum of Art, Saint Louis, Missouri. Her work is also included in many other corporate and private collections.


so yeah, come friday...

Melanee Cooper Gallery
740 N Franklin
Chicago, IL 60610


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