Drawn/Taped/Burned: Abstraction on Paper » Nicole Phungrasamee Fein

Nicole Fein on Stephen Antonakos

Rachel Nackman — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:40:36 +0000

Unbridled
Dance
Flurry
Celebration
Fiocco’s Allegro
Shifting currents
Changing seasons
Merge and emerge
Spontaneity
Ease
Balance
Lines illuminating the beauty of life

Nicole Fein on Bruce Conner

Rachel Nackman — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:18:30 +0000

Timeless
Intricate designs unfold
One after the next
A mystical narrative
Elusive
Inspiring wonder
The mystery lies in front of you
Drawing you in
To crack the code

Lynne Woods Turner on Nicole Fein

Rachel Nackman — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:24:01 +0000

One may view a work of art on the screen, but a true experience demands the presence of the object itself. Nicole Fein’s watercolor drawings are particularly worthy of personal observation. Fortunately, this writer has some prior experience of the work in question.

Nicole Fein makes work that is quiet, thoughtful, and concerned with process. Her drawings are “of the hand” in both scale and touch. One has the impression of a relationship to fabric and textiles in the rhythms of both composition and construction. This drawing, Iteration 3084E1, with its plaid pattern and pinked edge, suggests on first glance that it could be a still life of a swatch of fabric. Closer inspection reveals something different: each line a stroke, each stroke particular, edges not “cut” but precise to the zigzag pattern and folded back toward the center. The overall composition and the relationship of the painted area to the blank paper maximize this idea of expansion and contraction: the plaid is on the diagonal, and the distance from the corner of the paper to the nearest corner of the painted area is approximately equal to the distance from one painted corner to its adjacent painted corner. The transparency of the watercolor and the white spaces between the strokes further this impression of delicacy and control. Fein’s drawing is subtle and deserving of contemplation.

John Fraser on Nicole Fein

Rachel Nackman — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:24:21 +0000

1). Self-reliance: heart / mind / eye / hand.
Mastery of the most fugitive of media: watercolor.

2). Required Tools: pigment, suspension, brush, support, and SELF.

3). Process: Breathe in…breathe out. Touch with loaded brush. Reload and repeat until a stasis is discovered. By being present. By being human. By being a vehicle.

4). Result: Meditative beauty from nothing. Order and clarity from discipline. Calm from struggle. Large from small.
The elimination of the inessential. A hard-won structure.

In pursuit of the exquisite, with quiet, humble restraint.

What was found resulting from the activity itself.

Breathe in…breathe out.

Nicole Fein on Jill O’Bryan

Rachel Nackman — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:11:36 +0000

Grounded by air,
This is a meditation.
One by one, each breath becomes a mark.
The marks are steady and regular,
yet each one is unique.
To observe one’s breath without affecting it;
to move with it, without moving it.
To become conscious of the unconscious.
Documenting presence, the drawing is a diary,
ever evolving.
The collection of marks—
40,000 breaths taken together—
becomes the collective breath.
There is vitality in the awareness of mortality.
The breaths are numbered yet eternal.
The drawing is as the breath: elemental,
basic and profound, intimate and expansive,
atmospheric and whole.