Hailing from Rogate, a rural village situated a one-and-a-half-hour car drive southwest of London, artist Tahnee Lonsdale (1982) has become known for her sense of metaphysical prowess which manifests in her work through a cast of family-like celestial figures. The University of the Arts London graduate relocated in 2015 to Los Angeles where her artistic practice evolved to large-scale painting, soft sculpture, and also works on paper. The artist lands a new solo exhibition, entitled A Billion Tiny Moons, opening on Sat – Sep 14 at Night Gallery in Los Angeles. In Lonsdale’s second solo show at the gallery, she presents thirteen new paintings and a series of ceramics which are firmly engendered in her adoptive homeland. ‘I wasn’t thinking about L.A. at all when I made the work but as it often happens, in hindsight I really understand it’, Lonsdale says. The title of the show is a quote from American poet Dennis Phillips in reference to the phenomenon ‘air light,’ which is what occurs when the L.A. sunlight hits the air particles’.
‘These particles are in fact the exact same diameter as the wavelength of natural sunlight’. Indeed, Lonsdale’s appreciation of California can for a large part be attributed to its splendorous natural beauty which appeals to the artist’s hiking sensibilities, and ultimately, her creative output. But is it also a source of the aforementioned celestial element in her work? ‘Being in nature is certainly humbling, and at its very best awe-inspiring, but I’m yet to experience the supernatural’, she says. ‘As a kid I would imagine that I could will myself into teleporting, or moving items with the sheer force of my mind. So today, as an adult, I wish that I could experience something truly supernatural’. Lonsdale’s intuitive paint application, which varies from wan to gauzy to gelatinous, give the works their evanescent impression. For this new body of work, the artist took inspiration from her ceramics practice, honed during a recent residency at Cerámica Suro, a design workshop in Guadalajara. Feminine, circular forms are integral to the paintings, which further Lonsdale’s interests in the surreal, the spiritual, and the matriarchal. © superfuture
Night Gallery
2276 East 16th Street (Fashion District)
Los Angeles, CA 90021
Tue-Sat 11am-6pm
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