Sara Frantz "I May Bury Things in Sand and Snow" at Pamela Walsh Gallery

Sara Frantz
I May Bury Things in Sand and Snow
September 10 - October 8, 2022

Pamela Walsh Gallery
540 Ramona Street
Palo Alto, CA

"I May Bury Things in Sand and Snow" is the debut exhibition of Sara Frantz’s work in the Pamela Walsh Gallery and a dynamic expression of her visual language. Emerging from the long days of the pandemic shelter-in-place, Sara’s latest paintings depict a “new American landscape.” They are a complex interplay between the traditional ode to nature and a contemporary narrative of pop culture, politics and the presence of technology in our everyday lives. “My paintings are a wink that hint at undercurrents of dialogue just below the surface. They are built upon transitory surfaces of sand and snow; things are buried underneath that cannot be seen,” she says. Her compositions of academically painted trees, skies and sea are sprinkled with clues that inform us of deeper meanings. The topography is loaded with messages about the way our lives have shifted with the inundation of technology, digital images and social media. “The work considers how technology simultaneously extends and amputates people’s senses.” Sara’s artistic practice goes back-and-forth between analog and digital applications, overlaying images in photoshop before digitizing painterly surfaces with her brush. “It is normal now to see digital images of nature. The American landscape is littered with evidence of pop culture and political commentary. My work is an amalgamation of all of these forces which have become part of our collective fabric.”

images: 
The Waiting Place, 2021, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
Park for Catching Dreams, 2022, Gouache on canvas, 36 in x 36 in