Frank Lind: Time and Tide, Homage and Seascapes at Georges Berges

*MLK, 2000, Seascapes and Studies, Oil on canvas. 60 x 50 in. Photo courtesy of Georges Berges Gallery*

Getting to see the works of Frank Lind in person gives you an experience of a moment, the capture of a motion, and the building up of an atmosphere. Lind works “en plein air” within nature. Capturing immediate impressions and moments that captivate him, he then carries sketches to canvas. Stemming from the on-site sketches, the larger studio works take on a glow. Using traditional oil painting processes and many old master methods, both of Lind’s series displayed in this exhibition show the end result of a painter’s process.

Upon first entering the gallery, you are greeted with several of Lind’s seascapes within the “Sea Level Series”. With the gallery dimly lit as it is at most nighttime, the atmosphere was tranquil and meditative. The works, spotlit selectively, seem to be illuminated and hover off the walls ever so slightly. Scenes such as MLK, 2000, Seascapes and Studies pictured below illustrate a vision Lind saw while out and about and bring it into a fully articulated, composed meditation on a specific moment. In the painting titled A & A, we as viewers are placed at sea level, watching two figures run from the waves and foam, one holding a camera, as if looking to capture moments of his own. Using carefully placed colors, glazes, and paint strokes, Lind is able to capture a moment as it happens, suspending it as its own, and placing it onto canvas. The rush of the waves, the fresh sea breeze. Capturing a moment as fleeting as this pulls us into the feeling of time passing and the urgency with which many things can change instantly.

*A & A, 2002, Oil on canvas, 32 x 44 in. Photo courtesy of Georges Berges Gallery*

A statement in the press release caught my attention and stuck with me throughout the show: the note of “time compressed”. This notion shifts both the context and the meaning of the image depicted in the works. Lind’s Homage Series features figurative works in close conversation with the old master methods of artists such as Vermeer, Sargent, and Corot, in which Lind draws on his vast knowledge of those masters and adds his own compositional devices, perspectives, and glazing to build his own spaces. Within these spaces, Lind offers changing meanings through simple context shifts; many of his figures are posed nude, and having their clothing removed in different settings changes how we experience each piece. This minute focus on place and change gave me the opportunity to look at each piece in many different ways.

The pieces carry with them a cinematic vibe. By capturing a moment, Lind’s work resembles a film still. Each action depicted within the paintings builds up into a scene, one where I can fill in the before and after. This notion is especially prevalent with the cluster of works on the wall directly across from the figurative works, pictured below. Many of these pieces, devoid of figures, offer detailed depictions of place, a notion of a setting. Focusing on the details, you can truly see Lind’s mastery of working in layers, his finesse with textures, and his great ability to set both a time and a place so effectively. While the figures aren’t necessary in these settings, both walls coincide well with each other, the actors, and the places they can inhabit. Coexistence is an important notion in this work. One where both the figures and the atmospheres Lind creates coexist, in what seems to be a fragile balance.

*Installation View. Photo Courtesy of Taylor Bielecki*

Lind is capturing time with paint and slowing down spontaneous moments. The works all carry details within them of fragile subjects, all of which are affected by time. Through the paintings, Lind is preserving what is fragile and “attending to what goes unnoticed.” Whether it is the sun’s fading glares over the ocean, the curls of a wave, or the approach of storm clouds, these works chronicle fleeting moments within human existence.

*Larus, Oil on canvas, 84 x 72 in, Photo courtesy of Georges Berges Gallery*

While these pieces appear tranquil, they also carry with them an aura of urgency. Especially with the piece Time and Tide, of the architecture either emerging or withstanding the force of the water, it brought me back to Venice. It presents the inevitability of the water’s effects, of the passing of time, and how the city and our experiences can change. How something of the past, in the architecture, can be affected by the present and changed or removed just as quickly as it was created. This urgency emanates into current issues, one in which the fragility of nature is at the forefront. This work is a masterclass in painting, in viewing, and experiencing.

As a painter, you can learn so much by just exploring these works- the layers, the colors, and how they interact, and glazes; as a viewer, these works are an experience. Lind is using painting to illuminate what he saw play out before him, whether it be a small detail of seagulls exploring the shore, pictured in the painting Larus, or two figures interacting in one way or another. The canvases become viewfinders into a world in which viewers can step into and experience with a full imagination, and they are all definitely worth spending time in.

*Time and Tide, Oil on canvas, 23 x 48 in. Photo courtesy of Georges Berges Gallery*

All images provided by Taylor Bielecki and Georges Berges Gallery

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Georges Berges Gallery, Time and Tide, 462 West Broadway New York, New York 10012, Open Wednesday to Sunday 11-6pm or by appointment.

About the Writer: Taylor Bielecki lives in Gowanus, where her studio is, and works at Pratt Institute, where she earned her MFA, she also studied at Penn State, where she earned a BA in English and a BFA in Fine Arts. She finished as a finalist in the Kennedy Center’s VSA National Emerging Young Artist program for 2017; where she earned an award of Excellence. She has shown prints internationally in a print exchange in Australia and exhibitions in Dubai, India and the Glasgow School of Art. She has also shown paintings internationally in Gallery 24N, PhilaMOCA’s juried exhibitions in Philadelphia, Pa., Perry Lawson Fine Art in Nyack, NY, BWAC in Red Hook, and IW Galler in Brooklyn. Taylor works periodically for Two Coats of Paint, TUSSLE Magazine and has joined Art Spiel as a contributing writer.