Two paintings of airplanes silhouetted by the sun are the first and last images in LA painter Friedrich Kunath’s solo show at Pace Gallery, suggesting a brief layover on an ongoing journey. In between, romantic, dramatically lit landscapes include a huge breaking wave on a beach, a misty highway running through forest and a country road through fall foliage. Explaining in a video that his paintings ‘create permission to feel,’ Kunath’s pretty scenes contain short, evocative text quotes from music or other sources that speak to complicated interpersonal relationships. Behind the large breaking wave, the text ‘If it comes, let it. If it goes, let it.’ appears in purplish clouds on the horizon while here, a double exposure of a sunrise or sunset includes the phrase ‘You told that joke twice.’ (On view in Chelsea through Dec 20th).
