About

Short Bio

Nansi T. Lent is an asemic artist/painter from Rhinebeck, NY, born in New York and raised in Coconut Grove, Florida. Since 2012 she has exhibited extensively in The Hudson Valley and beyond.

Statement

Through my work I explore the power of illegible text as a universal language that transcends linguistic boundaries. It is about the collective unconscious, the evolution of language, the urge to write. Over time I have invented a symbolic language that borrows from ancient symbols but represents no language system but my own, hybrid, created one, that continues to evolve with each new piece I make. I seek to create a visual tapestry of nonsensical script that replicates the overlapping thought processes of mind, the rumination and entanglements all human beings are prey to, regardless of their cultural or linguistic background. I invite viewers to embrace the mystery and embrace their own interpretations. Mine is a contemplative practice where I explore the use of calligraphic symbols to evolve a new paradigm. My painting process is a visual abstraction of freewriting; sometimes bold and clear, sometimes layered and complex. I work across media, with graphite, inks, acrylics, mica, vinyl paints, oils and layering digital images of my work, photography. My work challenges the view to decode and ‘read’ the marks, paying tribute to the history and evolution of handwritten language and documents over centuries, which is rapidly transmuting into digital code.

Biography

Nansi T. Lent is a painter from Rhinebeck, NY, who was born in New York and grew up in Coconut Grove, Florida. She began making artwork as a young adult, pursued photography, filmmaking and psychology in college and went on to become a working photographer in NYC and producer of huge corporate media events that took her around the world. In the process she went to NYU for a Masters in Arts Administration, but for financial reasons kept working in corporate media. Art making has always been with her, exhibiting and publishing her work in her early career, but her business life as a creative took over. In 2009 she retired from production and relocated from NYC to The Hudson Valley where she returned to her roots as a fine artist while raising for her two young children, adopted from Russia. From photography Nansi migrated to figurative painting, which she did until about 2018. Since that time, she embarked on a path of language abstraction, broadly characterized as Asemic Writing. Today Nansi is a full-time fine artist working out of her home studio across media and regularly exhibiting her paintings, drawings and photographs. She is active in many arts organizations and serves frequently as a juror. She has conceived and curated several shows. Her work in held in several private collections.