M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition by Lauren Lee-Cabrera

In my landscape paintings I turn the world upside down. I bend reality with exaggerated

vibrancy, high value contrast, and athletic mark making to convey the power and drama

of nature. Trees are sliding off of cliffs, nature dissolves into blocks of neon color, and

once sturdy ground melts before one's eyes. All these elements work together to signify

the indescribable sensations and transcendent feelings engendered by nature’s

sublime.

In my recent paintings I have been contemplating my smallness within the infinite

vastness of land and sea. I am drawn to Kant’s ideas of the dynamical and

mathematical sublime--that nature can be both forceful and explosive, while also

revealing the infinity of the ever-expanding universe. In my work I weave these

philosophical ideas together with my treks through the wilderness and excursions

around the world. Nature has a way of leaving deep emotional impacts, and this work is

in the blurred space where these sublime feelings and memories merge.