My paintings are process-based, through them I experiment with the physical relationship between canvas and paint. Beyond working with the materiality of liquid color, I use my work to replace words— regurgitating my experiences and many moments layered on top of each other.
My process begins with a spontaneous color or mark. This type of mark-making includes laying a solid color across the entire surface, spray-painting lines or portions of the canvas, pouring thinned paint onto a piece to watch it drip, or taking a rubber scraper and sliding it across the entire plane—these gestural actions are the foundation of my practice. From those short moments of expression I react to the colors, shapes, or lines on the canvas. My choices are curated by perpetually questioning color relationships, distilling images or concepts into symbols, and exploring the tactility of paint. I obsess over certain colors and marks I encounter in daily life and translate them into every piece. I work on many surfaces at once, scattered on the floor and across the walls of my studio, and they are all tied together with the same language and steady stream of thoughts. These bits of information that travel along from painting to painting are gathered from throughout my existence; they reflect nature, the places I’ve traveled, and the people I’ve met along my journey. Although my paintings are abstracted, I aim to make them accessible to the audience, placing focused imagery and emotions throughout my work to trigger a personal dialogue between the viewer, the artwork, and ultimately myself.
Haley Nannig is a painter living and working in Portland, Maine. Growing up by the ocean in Rhode Island and now residing three hours up the coast, Nannig’s work is full of aquatic imagery and symbols drawn from nature. After graduating from Alfred University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts she has lived in numerous locations including: Ithaca, NY, Paonia, CO, Newport, RI, Portland, ME, and Taos, NM. With a constantly changing horizon, new faces, and a life full of continuous motion, Nannig’s experiences are reflected in her paintings.
Haley Nannig recently returned from a three month long residency with the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, NM. Nannig is showing her work throughout the East Coast and continuing to paint in her Portland studio, while always planning her next trip.
