Painter Lauren Portada explains that her early morning trail runs make her extra-aware of the natural world, but the sense of immediacy she conveys in her landscape paintings at Deanna Evans Projects is indebted to her technique. Using dyed, torn and tarnished scraps from her own recycled paintings, Portada creates representational outdoor scenes with pleasing trompe l’oeil effects that add interest by incorporating areas of abstraction. A snowy hillside with distinct trees has an ambiguous, patterned ground for example while a Maine sunrise shows up as a reflected orange triangle behind trees in the foreground. Here, a segment of peeling birch catches the light to reveal a multitude of colors in its white bark. (On view in Tribeca through May 24th).
