Artist Chris Frick explores how the Lowcountry becomes part of us
from Staff Reports
For Charleston artist Chris Frick, painting the Lowcountry isn’t necessarily about painting what she sees.
It’s about what remains after she stops looking.
“I don’t paint the landscape itself; I paint what stays with me after spending time there,” says Frick, a German-born artist whose newest collection draws heavily from the landscape and atmosphere of the South Carolina coast.
Frick is unveiling the complete body of new work Saturday, Sept. 26, during a private showcase at Villa Hemingway on Folly Beach.
Since moving from Germany to Charleston, Frick says her work has become increasingly influenced by her adopted home and the subtle ways a place can become part of a person over time. That idea provides the thread connecting two bodies of work, Lowcountry and Place & Figure, that make up the new collection.
In Lowcountry, Frick draws inspiration from the heat, water, marshes, coastal light, barrier islands, and everyday impressions of life around Charleston. But those familiar elements don’t necessarily translate into familiar scenes.
Instead of traditional landscapes, Frick works in layers of acrylic, texture, color, and expressive marks. Pieces of the coastal environment may emerge but are often reduced, fragmented, or incorporated into abstraction.
Her Place & Figure series takes the idea a step further by introducing the human form into those abstracted environments. Sometimes the separation between person and place is obvious. Other times, the two begin to blend together, reflecting Frick’s interest in how our surroundings gradually influence our identities and our sense of ourselves.
The result is work that occupies the space somewhere between landscape and abstraction, with the Lowcountry providing both inspiration and atmosphere.
The Sept. 26 Folly Beach showcase will mark the first time Frick presents the complete new collection, which is being kept largely under wraps until the event.
Frick maintains a studio on Broad Street in downtown Charleston and is represented locally by Simpatico Gallery, as well as Mary Praytor Gallery in Greenville.
Chris Frick will showcase her artwork at a private event on Saturday, Sept 26 on Folly Beach. To see her work in person or inquire about purchasing or commissioning a painting, visit www.chrisfrick.art.
