Nicole Phungrasamee Fein: Materialize

Nicole Phungrasamee Fein’s work is about processes of line making. Her second solo exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery is comprised of watercolor paintings on paper and three-dimensional works made of linen.

Fein’s sculptures are the product of a multitude of stitched lines. Sewn seams become cubes. Row after row of cubes form structure and pattern. References to Lewitt and Andre are subverted by the homeliness of the material.

For her paintings, Fein applies free-hand brushstrokes of water-color, forming bands of color. The process of each stroke is a cycle of inhalation, breath retention during the mark making, then exhalation. Laid one next to the other, the bands become fields of complex, luminous color or shimmering, optical, woven plaids. Through a process that owes as much to performance-based body art or meditation practices as it does to traditional painting, Fein creates artifacts of quiet beauty.

Fein’s work has recently been purchased for the collections of the Berkeley Art Museum; the Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the Mills College Art Museum, Oakland; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.