Though we see no human figures in Angie Renfro’s paintings, these are landscapes shaped by people, and a human presence binds the space together. The loneliness of cool, still places is cut through with a warmth of connection so bright you can almost hear it hum. The scale of construction of massive structures is tempered by rust and dust and silence, but the glow of human endeavor the and warmth of human communion stretch with the wires far beyond this time and place.

“When I’m painting it feels like sculpting to me. I think what I really love in painting—what I’ve figured out over the years—is painting the negative space. That’s where I get really lost…I kind of destroy and rebuild as I’m painting, which is super cathartic. Layers upon layers of paintings that I add to, take away from, and destroy what was there, so they are sort of a meditation on accepting uncertainty. As I’m painting I work through life lessons—knowing that I don’t have control, things happen outside of my control, but I can control how I respond to it. In this case, I’m responding by trying to create something beautiful…This work is also a meditation in self-doubt, too, because as I’m painting and adding a layer, I often think I’ve just ruined it—that part I like—and I have to trust that it’s going to work out. There’s no one way something needs to go, and even if I’ve messed up part of it, a new part will emerge that I like…I don’t know what it’s going to look like when it’s finished. For me, that’s also an analogy or a life lesson. I’m never going to get to a place where I feel like I’ve figured it out, but the important thing is to keep asking questions…I feel like there’s a sense of longing to my work, a sense of peacefulness and wistfulness. I hope people find the opposite nature of my work compelling in the way I find it compelling, like the play of the positive and negative and the energy of the brushstrokes with the peacefulness of the composition…It kind of speaks to the things that aren’t said. There’s a story that’s not being told, which I think adds a layer of interest to the pieces.” (from an interview in Nashville Arts Magazine.)

Angie Renfro is an artist living and working in Nashville. See more of her work at angierenfro.com and on Instagram at angierenfro_