Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery is pleased to present a solo show of work by Lisha Bai in the front gallery. The show will run from February 15 through March 24. An opening reception will be held on Friday, February 15 from 6-8PM.

The show, titled “Year Without a Summer,” will feature a new series of sculptures cast from colored sand. From afar, Bai’s works appear to be window frames, but upon inspection reveal themselves to be precise cast facsimiles of stretched canvases, turned around to reveal their structural supports. These sculptural simulations of paintings are built from granules of colored sand, and depict light and atmospheric conditions at various times of day – permanently fixing ephemeral moments with the byproducts of geologic time. Bai’s works will be installed along the walls of the front gallery surrounding the viewer in a spectrum of light and color.  Seen together, they evoke multiple shifts in barometric phenomena.

The atmospheric landscapes of J.W.M. Turner are a touchstone for this group of sculptures.  Bai looks at Turner’s color palette and the tension in his works between illusionism and their materiality. The title of the show refers to the eruption of Mt. Tambora in the year 1816, which left high levels of volcanic ash in the atmosphere, creating spectacular sunsets around the world and setting the inspiration for Turner’s famous sunset paintings. Bai’s works, like Turner’s, capture light— rendering a continuum of hues in quartz and rock.

Lisha Bai graduated from Yale with an MFA and received her BFA from Washington University. In 2018 she had a solo show at Fortnight Institute in New York, and has participated in recent group shows at Carol/Fisher in London and Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery.