Philip Martin Gallery is proud to present, "This World Only," an exhibition of new paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Laurie Nye. The exhibition is Laurie Nye's third solo show at Philip Martin Gallery. The work of Memphis-born, Los Angeles-based artist Laurie Nye points to both the American South and California. It has its foundation in how we experience interiority and expression via art objects like paintings in both the present and the past. Laurie Nye is particularly interested in European artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries who experienced and dealt with many of the same issues that we face now. Her paintings are a means by which to connect to oneself, others and the world in a full way. Nye comments, "In my new body of work, I have been thinking more about natural phenomena and exploring awe as a necessary force: awe of the skies, of the minutiae of the natural world around us, and its mysteries beyond our depth. I seem to be wishing for divine intervention. In sorting through some of the tension of our present moment, I am reminded that earth is finite and rare and holds the answers to our cascade of human problems. The natural world has been a recurring subject in my work and, in particular, the imprint of memories and how the feelings of place and time orchestrate color and expressiveness. The paintings ask us to pause and be present with the beauty of this world, to recognize how perfectly it sustains us, and to respect what is precious and precarious—animals, trees, stars, grass, and all the living things. They affirm our interconnectedness, reminding us that care must happen not tomorrow, but NOW." Intrigued by figures like Edvard Munch, Cuno Amiet and the founder of the French Les Nabis movement, Paul Sérusier, Laurie Nye considers the immediate feeling of the individual in natural environments like parks, woods and fields, lakes and rivers. Nye's work connects particularly to water, its patterns and light; lines of trees; the harmony of the forest; and the appearance of agricultural activities like corn fields, a painting of which - a new motif - appears in "This World Only." In these works, Nye alludes perhaps to figures like Emilie Bernard whose work, like hers, stresses outlines, anti-natural color, and sinuous compositions painted in luminous, delicately shaded colors. In her work Nye comments, "the surface itself becomes a meditation on time, presence and fragile but insistent wonder." One of the most thrilling aspects of Nye's practice is her unique paint application, which alongside her color choices adapts the luminosity of the canvas in the service of pictorial energy and verve. Like watercolor or colored pencil - of which Nye is a master - the canvas in Nye's work glows with a light that is revealed by her idiosyncratic means of painting, which in addition to direct mark-making, also employs reductive process: after laying in layers of paint, Nye wipes these layers away with a soft towel, building colors to emphasize the asymmetry and strongly delineated lines of both large-scale pictorial pieces and smaller, more formal patterns. This process produces a kind of glowing material thinness and visual richness that is all her own, and in which we are invited to share. Laurie NYE (b. 1972, Memphis, TN) received her BFA from the Memphis College of Art (Memphis, TN), and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA). In September 2026, Laurie Nye’s work will be featured in a solo show at Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA) with additional group shows at Haverkampf Leistenschneider (Berlin, Germany) and Rachel Uffner Gallery (New York, NY). Laurie Nye’s work has appeared in such solo and group exhibitions as “A Particular Kind of Heaven,” Parrasch Heijnen (Los Angeles, CA); "The Moth & The Thunderclap,” Modern Art (London, UK); "Encounter," Rachel Uffner Gallery (New York, NY); “BodyLand,” Galerie Max Hetzler (Berlin, Germany); "Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes,” Acquavella (New York, NY); Van Doren Waxter (New York, NY); Bark Berlin Gallery (Berlin, Germany); The Pit (Glendale, CA); Odd Ark (Los Angeles, CA); Big Pictures LA (Los Angeles, CA); Blake and Vargas, (Berlin, Germany); The Dot Project, (London, UK); Day and Night Gallery (Atlanta, GA); La Loma Projects, (Pasadena, CA); and Unpaved Gallery (Yucca Valley, CA). Laurie Nye’s artist project, “Chickasaw Moon,” at Odd Ark (Los Angeles, CA) was an Artforum Critics Pick. Laurie Nye’s solo exhibition at Philip Martin Gallery was Artforum Best of Year 2021 feature. Nye has work in the OZ Art Northwest Arkansas, (Bentonville, AR) collection. Her work has been reviewed in such publications as Artillery, Los Angeles Times, Artforum, FAD Magazine and LA Weekly. Laurie Nye lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.