Guided Forms

For Guided Forms, Jill Singer, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Sight Unseen joins Rhett Baruch Gallery to curate an exhibition of new works by Los Angeles painter Lynda Keeler, presented at Lawson-Fenning’s New York showroom. Central to Keeler’s newest body of work is her use of found vintage frames, which serve as both the starting point and a guide for each painting. Carved wood, gilded surfaces, various metals, unusual proportions and motifs, and unexpected colors inform the palette, composition, and character of the work that takes shape within each piece.

Keeler abstractly maps the landscapes and architecture encountered on her walks through Southern California, where rooflines, expansive beaches, asphalt roads, swimming pools, vivid sunrises, and diverse foliage become a shifting vocabulary of color, shape, texture, shadow, and reflection. These daily explorations act as a doorway into the creative process, with the unique attributes of each frame informing how observation and memory are translated into her paintings.

Within Lawson-Fenning’s showroom, this relationship between painting and materials extends into the surrounding interior. The works are installed in response to historic and contemporary design, creating a domestic environment in which artwork, furniture, and lighting are considered in relation to one another. Moving between observation and intuition, landscape and abstraction, Keeler’s paintings bring contemporary image making into dialogue with design from many eras, creating vignettes that feel both timeless and brand new., restoring, and curating antique furniture remains an active part of its practice.