NATALIE CHEUNG and NATE LEWIS Reviewed in The Washington Post

WASHINGTON POST ~ In the galleries ~ April 21, 2017

 Natalie Cheung: Increments in Time and Nate Lewis: Tensions in Tapestries On view through April 26 at Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave. NW. 202-628-2787. mortonfineart.com.

Natalie Cheung’s “31 Hours,” cyanotype on paper, on view through April 26 at Morton Fine Art. (Natalie Cheung/Courtesy of Morton Fine Art)

To judge by their titles, change must be the subject of Natalie Cheung’s cyanotypes. Each picture in her Morton Fine Art show, “Increments in Time,” is named after a period of as little as one and as many as 76 hours. This is how long it took water to evaporate from the photographic paper, yielding studies in blue, black and white.  The D.C. artist has turned the process, once used for architectural blueprints, into something abstract and unpredictable. Her pictures may resemble Rorschach tests and microscopic views, but all they truly illustrate is the process by which they were made. Their poetry is an accident of chemicals and duration.

Nate Lewis’s “Signals II,” hand-sculpted paper photo print, at Morton Fine Art. (Nate Lewis/Courtesy of Morton Fine Art)

To Nate Lewis, whose “Tensions in Tapestries” also is at Morton, the African American body is a landscape to be transformed. He cuts and scrapes black-and-white photographic portraits, removing pigment while adding patterns and flocked textures. The effect recalls African weaving and skin embellishment, but also reflects the influence of the D.C. artist’s job as an intensive-care nurse, seeking to heal the most damaged. In pieces such as “Funk and Spine,” the surface of a woman’s body is almost entirely remade, yet sinew, bone and essence endure.

– Mark Jenkins

Natalie Cheung: Increments in Time and Nate Lewis: Tensions in Tapestries On view through April 26 at Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave. NW. 202-628-2787. mortonfineart.com.

Increments of Time: New Works by NATALIE CHEUNG

 53 Hours, 2017, 30″x 44″, cyanotype on paper

We are excited to give you a sneak preview of new works by NATALIE CHEUNG from her upcoming solo exhibition Increments in Time.

Increments in Time features Cheung’s cyanotype mappings of evaporation. Cheung’s cyanotypes are reduced to the essential elements of capturing and recording light; light, paper, chemical reaction and chance which hearken back to the scientific roots of the medium. The prints record the transition from liquid to blueprint. The title of each work indicates the hours in which it took water to evaporate completely from the paper. What remains is the aftermath of an event, a map. This work examines the way in which nature perpetually creates patterns, seemingly random and chaotic yet with regularity and repetition.

Natalie was born in Falls Church, Virginia. She received her MFA in Photography from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and her BFA in Photography from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally; she has been profiled in Washington Spaces Magazine and has her work is represented in numerous collections including the Museum of Fine Art Houston and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Cheung has taught at the George Washington University as well as the Corcoran College of Art + Design and Temple University, Tyler School of Art. This marks her second solo exhibition at Morton Fine Art.

You can also see more of Natalie’s available works HERE.

 31 Hours, 2017, 30″x 44″, cyanotype on paper

76 Hours, 2017, 30″x 44″, cyanotype on paper

 1 Hour, 2017, 5″x 7″, cyanotype on paper

2 Hours, 2017, 5″x 7″, cyanotype on paper

 3 Hours (b), 2017, 8″x 9″, cyanotype on paper

 3 Hours, 2017, 8″x 9″, cyanotype on paper

 6 Hours, 2017, 8″x 9″, cyanotype on paper

April 2017 solo exhibitions at MFA – NATALIE CHEUNG & NATE LEWIS

Increments in Time Cyanotypes by NATALIE CHEUNG Tensions in Tapestries Hand-sculpted paper photo prints by NATE LEWIS Friday, April 7 – April 26th, 2015 OPENING DAY RECEPTION  Friday, April 7th, 6pm-8pm Both artists will be in attendance. NATALIE CHEUNG, 53 Hours, 2017, 30″x44″, cyanotype on paper NATE LEWIS, Mobile, 2017, 40″x26″, hand sculpted paper photo print EXHIBITION LOCATION Morton Fine Art (MFA) 1781 Florida Ave NW (at 18th & U Sts) Washington, DC 20009 HOURS Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm Sunday 12pm-5pm About NATALIE CHEUNG and Increments in Time: Increments in Time features Cheung’s cyanotype mappings of evaporation. Cheung’s cyanotypes are reduced to the essential elements of capturing and recording light; light, paper, chemical reaction and chance which hearken back to the scientific roots of the medium. The prints record the transition from liquid to blueprint. The title of each work indicates the hours in which it took water to evaporate completely from the paper. What remains is the aftermath of an event, a map. This work examines the way in which nature perpetually creates patterns, seemingly random and chaotic yet with regularity and repetition. NATALIE CHEUNG, 40 & 31 Hours, 2017, 30″x44″, cyanotype on paper Natalie was born in Falls Church, Virginia. She received her MFA in Photography from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and her BFA in Photography from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally; she has been profiled in Washington Spaces Magazine and has her work is represented in numerous collections including the Museum of Fine Art Houston and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Cheung has taught at the George Washington University as well as the Corcoran College of Art + Design and Temple University, Tyler School of Art. This marks her second solo exhibition at Morton Fine Art. About NATE LEWIS and Tensions in Tapestries: We all have a lens through which we see. Our lens is distilled by our patterns of seeing and thinking which continually refines our lens. The lens we come to form becomes our filter.  Using figurative and portrait style images I hand-sculpt  patterns and textures on to single sheets of paper that reveal unseen tensions on and within bodies representative of the past, present, and future – the physical and the spiritual, the tangible and intangible.  Internal, as well as external influences come to refine our patterns of thinking, seeing, interacting and loving. Through the use of presence and absence, textures and distortion, I aim to challenge the filters we hold that dictate our views and our actions. Through an attentive, intentional process of sculpting patterns and terrains of texture on  bodies, I seek for this work to mirror the intentionality and consistency it can take in ones patterns of thinking and seeing to hold an empathetic lens. -NATE LEWIS, 2017 NATE LEWIS, Thrice, 2017, 26″x40″, hand sculpted paper photo print Nathaniel Lewis grew up in Beaver Falls, near Pittsburgh, Pa. Born 1985, Nate benefited from the cultural mix of his Trinidad-born father who was raised in Brooklyn and his white American-born mother, raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from VCU with his BSN and has been a practicing critical care nurse for the past five years as well as professional fine artist.  Tensions in Tapestries is Nate’s second solo exhibition at Morton Fine Art. About Morton Fine Art: Founded in 2010 in Washington, DC, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that anyone can become an art collector or enthusiast, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice. Available Artwork by NATALIE CHEUNG Available Artwork by NATE LEWIS Morton Fine Art

Contact Information  (202) 628-2787 mortonfineart@gmail.com www.mortonfineart.com

NATALIE CHEUNG’s Blue Watercolors series in DC Modern Luxury Magazine

Click HERE to view NATALIE CHEUNG’s feature

Natalie Cheung, Untitled (Blue), 12″x12″, watercolor on paper

About NATALIE CHEUNG’s Blue Watercolor Series:

“My watercolors, are painted in several types of blue but one color specifically chosen is French Ultramarine. The choice of ultramarine references the discovery and usage of the first blue paint pigments around 1704, a tremendously important color used throughout history and discovered accidentally. My paintings reference the beginnings of both painting and photography, visually similar to the earliest cyanotypes.” ~Natalie Cheung on her latest medium referencing the historical use of cyanotype photographic process for blue prints.

 

About NATALIE CHEUNG:

Born in Falls Church, Virginia, NATALIE CHEUNG received her MFA in Photography from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and her BFA in Photography from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in numerous collections including the Museum of Fine Art Houston and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. CHEUNG has taught at George Washington University as well as the Corcoran College of Art + Design and Temple University, Tyler School of Art. She is represented by Morton Fine Art in Washington, DC.

View available work by NATALIE CHEUNG here.

Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009

(202) 628-2787, mortonfineart@gmail.com, http://www.mortonfineart.com