Show Preview | Kim Lordier

Carmel, CA
James J. Rieser Fine Art, August 4-31

Kim Lordier, Strikingly Rich Along Old Monterey Road, pastel, 16 x 24.

Kim Lordier, Strikingly Rich Along Old Monterey Road, pastel, 16 x 24.

This story was featured in the August 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

It’s a subtle change—one marked by tiny, intuitive tweaks slowly honed over the course of years spent at the easel. In her latest collection of paintings, on view this month at James J. Rieser Fine Art, Northern California pastelist Kim Lordier has noticed a distinct evolution in her technique and creative perspective. Of her 30 new paintings—unveiled on Saturday, August 4, with an artist’s reception at noon—the artist notes, “My mark-making is a bit more considered, and my proportions and ideation are getting stronger. There’s a refinement happening.”

But for anyone who has admired Lordier’s work over the past decade, including gallery owner Jim Rieser, the show presents the same lustrous, painterly landscapes that have earned the plein-air artist wide acclaim. “After 21 years in the business, I can tell when someone has a talent, and clearly Kim has a special talent in pastels,” Rieser says of his top-selling artist. “Her works look more like an oil painter’s. People fall in love with them, with their heightened color.”

Many of the pieces in the show, which Lordier describes as an accumulation of her most recent plein-air adventures, are larger, studio works inspired by her plein-air studies. But all of the artist’s pieces tap into the sensory experiences she had while painting en plein air. “When I’m out in the field, I’m drawn to certain things,” says Lordier, whose influences remain firmly rooted in early California Impressionism. “Generally it’s the light, but how many times can you talk about the light inspiring you? It’s also about having your toes in the hot sand while you’re painting, and you dig them a little deeper to find that cool sand. It’s watching the wildlife walk by and leave tracks in the snow.”

Lordier’s show is, in effect, a celebration of her passion for nature in both its grandest and most humble forms. Works take viewers from California’s majestic Yosemite National Park to the modest pickleweed in Elkhorn Slough, “plump with salt water.” Each painting glimmers with lyrical imagery, so it’s fitting that the artist has titled her show Visual Poetry. “As artists, we’re creating visually what poets do verbally,” muses Lordier. “It’s editing. It’s the choices we make, our personal tastes and reactions to what we see and what we feel.” —Kim Agricola

contact information
831.620.0530
www.rieserfineart.com

This story was featured in the August 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

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