Interrupted Landscape 2 Painting

Lanier often produces naturalistic interpretations of the landscape, particularly those that focus on a single, studied element – a cluster of stones, a patch of reeds, the horizon at sunset – rendered with compelling precision. This naturalism, however, gradually gives way to abstraction in her studio work. A tangle of seaweed grows into a series of repeated geometrical forms, reflections of light on the water melt into pure surface pattern, and the simple contour of a johnboat’s stern or dock’s railing completes an arrangement of interlocking geometric shapes.Even more adventurous are Lanier’s “interrupted landscapes.” Compiled from a series of disparate but related landscape fragments layered one over another in a collage-like structure, these experiments in composition emerge primary from the artist’s personal experiences — places she’s visited, landscapes of her childhood, and photographs she has collected. This personal dimension to Lanier’s landscapes is an important part of what makes her paintings resonate among a broad audience.