This work is part of an ongoing series of drawings that are nestled into nest like frames built from collected wood charred to a velvety black finish. The imagery attempts to capture the memories of a mountaneous and wooded landscape with which the artist has an intimate connection. During her time in this non-humancentric landscape, the artist takes long meditative walks to collect materials for the frames. When paired together the drawing and frame present multiple ways of experiencing a place where there are many more trees than people.
Framed: 13.2 x 16.2 x 5.0 in.
Signed
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About the artwork:

"Through process, imagery and material my work explores place, hope, loss, (be)longing and return. During Spring, Summer and Fall I spend much of my time immersed in the woods of upstate New York. Research consists of sleeping, cooking, showering and otherwise living outside in a remote section of woods north of the Catskills. I observe, document and internalize the monumental and minute moments that make up this place.

During this time, I depend on fires for warmth, cooking and entertainment; after each one I collect the ash, soot and charcoal left behind. These remnants, imbued with the vibrations of the place, become my drawing materials. During Winter, while back in my Queens studio, I metabolize my experiences through a deeply haptic engagement with the remains of the fire, creating images informed by the memories of the place I am no longer in. The drawings are constructed through hundreds of gestures of loss and repair and present the paradoxical hope of the wiped out, smudged, erased and rebuilt while attempting to capture the unseen and omniprescent energies that underpin landscape.

The frames are made from downed trees and branches collected during the Summer. Using a chainsaw, axe and knife I process these trees into portions of wood that I transform into homes - nests - for the drawings. I then heavily char the frames with a blowtorch. Other frames - hand built and tenderly sanded - are stained with organic materials, the patina of these frames occurs after the application and rubbing away of many layers. When used as drawing material and as protective housing for the drawings, the seemingly destroyed charred remains of fire make way for new ideas, images and objects, creating space for hope and regeneration within the collapse and destruction that surrounds us."

About the artist:

Beatrice Modisett creates two and three-dimensional works with primarily found and biodegradable materials. Her drawings, photographs and assemblages explore the moments of overlap between human and non-human systems, her relationship to non-humancentric places, memory and (be)longing. Her imagery, process and materials contribute to the creation of meaning and all work to embody, rather than depict, terrain and all of it’s emotional and physical complexities. She lives and works in Ridgewood, Queens and is hand-building her version of utopia with her partner the percussionist Ellery Trafford on their piece of land in Upstate NY. While populating the property with wildflowers, conifer trees and semi-permanent eco-friendly shelters, they also operate a residency and welcome artists, writers, musicians and composers to the property annually.

Her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions at the Queens Museum (Queens, NY), Maier Musuem of Art (Lynchburg, VA), Analog Diary (Beacon, NY), Assembly Room (New York, NY), HallSpace (Boston, MA) and others. She has participated in residencies around the world including Wave Hill Winter Workspace (Bronx, NY), SIM (Reykjavík, Iceland) and Palazzo Monti (Brescia, Italy). She was named by Artsy’s Alina Cohen as one of “11 Emerging Artists Redefining Abstract Painting”. Modisett earned a BFA in Painting from Montserrat College of Art and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Specs:

16.25 inches
13.25 inches
5 inches
13.25 inches
with frame
16.25 inches
13.25 inches
5 inches
13.25 inches
Beatrice Modisett:
The Horror of the Fixed, 2025
Charcoal, pigment, conte on grey toned paper, found and charred wood, linseed oil
13.3 × 16.3 × 5.0 inches /