Deeply inspired by the Fauvist movement, “The Wilds” by Miriam Vollmayr-Lee `26 features a vibrant and loosely-painted selection of colorful landscapes. The first Edith Renfrow Smith `37 Gallery of the semester focuses on blending elements of nature and man-made architecture over a series of paintings.
A style of colorful painting popularized in the 20th century, the Fauvist movement focuses on expression rather than realism. Fauvism influences appear throughout the exhibition, including the title.
“Fauvism comes from the word the wild beasts,” Vollmayr-Lee said. Many of the pieces on the walls feature thick and visually distinct brushstrokes.
“I like the way that they are very loose with the brush,” Vollmayr-Lee said of Fauvist painters. “It’s sort of freeing. I’m a very in-my-head, anxious person, and so I try to make art that challenges me to get out of my head and just be free.”
Vollmayr-Lee said she draws specific inspiration from Georges Braque, a famous 20th-century painter.
With the majority of paintings in her show utilizing oil paint as the main medium, Vollmayr-Lee cites Fauvism early in her practice with oil painting as well. Beginning the shift from acrylic to oil in 2022, she was initially drawn to the medium as it was commonly what the Fauvists used to paint. Over time, she said she found herself falling more in love with oil painting, as she found it more fun to work with.
A further look around the gallery reveals a wide selection of pieces that feature both the elements of nature and man-made structures, such as houses, boats and Grinnell College’s very own Gates Tower.
“There’s just nature in all of my art,” Vollmayr-Lee said. “That’s always going to be true about my art. I never want to paint something that’s just man-made.”
“Nature is so much more erratic, and so it’s just more fun to paint,” Vollmayr-Lee added.
While painting nature on both the individual scale with single plants and on the large scale with vast stretches of mountains and the Northern Lights in the sky, Vollmayr-Lee described the works as “man-made structures along with nature, and sort of how we fit into our spaces.”
Even though overarching ideas of structure and space are present throughout the gallery, Vollmayr-Lee doesn’t describe herself as being a “meaning person” in her art.
The only painting Vollmayr-Lee said really has meaning is “In Loving Memory.”
The 2023 oil painting features a tabletop with a collection of items, such as a flower pot with orchids and several tissues.
“It’s a bunch of artifacts, well, hand-me-downs essentially, from my grandmother who passed away, and she’s a very complicated figure,” Vollmayr-Lee said.
The identification label present next to the painting further describes her grandmother as a woman who “worshipped the idea of being a lady of class, to a fault,” and in her final years, “Her greatest desire became to give away the very opulence she had spent a lifetime collecting.”
Vollmayr-Lee elaborates on the painting’s meaning being about material possession, opulence and loving someone who’s complicated.
“The Wilds” remains on view through Feb. 6.
