JENNIFER BOYSEN PARADISE RANCH ROAD Los Angeles | OCTOBER 23RD - NOVEMBER 24TH Opening Saturday October 23rd 12-4pm “What interests me, is not what lies beneath each painting, but the transcendence and departure of their original form and material, pulling viewers inward for reflection” Five Car Garage is delighted to present the exhibition ‘Paradise Ranch Road’ a series of eight paintings by Jennifer Boysen which are inspired by a set of drawings made in February and March of 2021 in south western Montana. Collectively the artworks reveal a spectrum of pastel earth tones reminiscent of winter's glow. Each work builds upon the next. There is a silent and uplifting current running through each canvas, embedded with the history and time and sense of place. These works which were born in sub-zero temperatures, beckon the viewer into a quieter contemplation, one of lost life and artifacts frozen in time, inspiring further mystery. While rooted in the tradition of painting Jennifer Boysen’s works very much contain sculptural qualities. Canvas is stretched over fabricated or found structures, often producing a totemic gesture. The canvases—gessoed and obsessively coated with egg tempera paint—have matte, velvety textures that deeply absorb light, and produce variations and subtleties in their hues. The result is a rich palette that recalls the natural light of the California desert, slate, pale earth, or the weathered frozen surface of ancient art. The work becomes generalized and abstracted symbols and shapes playing off the natural light - they manifest themselves in similar ways that the particularities of light and geography, influenced the Light and Space movement born here in California. The shapes are either found or inspired by detritus or images immediately around, which then become appropriated, reorganized and concealed. Stretching a new skin over these forms creates simplification and a veil. There is a physicality and an emotional presence through their timelessness and mysteriousness to their function. What is interesting is not what lies beneath each painting, but the transcendence and departure of their original form and material, pulling viewers inward for reflection. In this way they are metaphors for structures, landscapes, places, or objects that are obstructed from our understanding and view in everyday life. The history of a place is imbedded into a formal sci-fi relic,sculpted out of time. Similar to that of a mermaid’s purse, there is a life of history and future mystery impregnated within. Jennifer Boysen lives and work in Ventura, CA. Born in Iowa in 1976, she received her MFA from Hunter College, CUNY, New York in 2002. Moving to Los Angeles in 2005, Jennifer has had several solo and group exhibitions both locally and internationally. Her work has been widely reviewed in the international press and contemporary art publications. Her work is in collections at the LACMA and the Marciano Art Foundation. In 2018, she was the recipient of a Pollack Krasner Foundation Grant and awarded a grant from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts for an exhibition at Arturo Bandini in Los Angeles. After being greatly impacted by the Thomas Fire, Boysen was awarded emergency relief grants from the Joan Mitchel Foundation and the Ventura County Arts Council.