DANIELLE FRETWELL
NADA NEW YORK
7 - 9 May
Starrett-Lehigh Building
New York
We are delighted to announce our first participation in the upcoming edition of NADA New York with a solo presentation by American artist Danielle Fretwell (b. 1996). This
will mark Fretwell’s return to a US art fair, following her previous participation in Alice Amati's curated group presentation at NADA Miami last December 2024, where she exhibited alongside Annabelle Agbo Godeau and Paul Robas.
Fretwell’s paintings offer visual translations of everyday objects, creating a sensory experience through carefully constructed still-life compositions. Seemingly classical still-life, where the objects are presented at a 1:1 scale to real-life, are partially concealed using visual barriers to allow for a slow discovery and reveal of their details. Through the creation of spatial stagings within painting, Danielle Fretwell explores the poetics of space and the tension between visibility and concealment, the delicate balance between accessibility and occlusion. Her presentation includes still-life paintings depicting gleaming objects of seemingly superficial value, luring atmospheres, and trompé-l'œil draperies that obscure the view and conceal large portions of her canvases. These veils act as both literal and symbolic obstructions, challenging the viewer's access to a world conscious of its own aestheticism. These draped hindrances become the visual means through which Fretwell questions the constructs of our daily life and examines the complexities inherent in discerning what is ‘true’. Her intentional unveiling becomes an act of the artist’s own sincerity, reinforcing the notion that, despite the layers of distortion in our surroundings, a genuine truth exists beneath the surface.
Along traditional modes of painting, Fretwell uses a combination of printmaking techniques to complicate the understanding of her layered process, and to draw attention to the slowness her medium requires from both the creator and the viewer, suggesting a more engaged way of experiencing images and our surroundings.