lynn basa opening reception

New York, NY- Space 776 is pleased to present the third solo exhibition of new paintings and ceramic sculptures by artist Lynn Basa.

Earlier this year, Lynn Basa made an abrupt return to ceramics inspired by images of hundreds of small wind-carved sand formations that appeared overnight on the shores of Lake Michigan near St. Joseph in early January 2022. Seldom seen and short-lived, these “sand hoodoos” launched Lynn Basa back into clay after a decades-long hiatus.

“I’ve known for a while that I chose encaustic as a painting medium because it had similar properties to clay.  The pigment and beeswax mixture is applied while molten hot and sealed by heat, it can be scraped and carved, there’s something primal about it. I want my work to look like it was made by itself, like there was no human ego behind it, with all of its self-doubts and outside influences.  It helps me channel my inner Neanderthal, to get into the mind frame of what art could have looked like before art history, the art market, institutions, and critical theory.  What would a completely unselfconscious, yet intentionally-made object look like? It’s a conundrum that I’ll never conquer.” – Lynn Basa

Basa started working with clay when she was 12 and continued through to an undergraduate degree in fine art with a concentration in ceramics. She gradually moved on to other materials but when Basa saw the sand hoodoos she knew instantly that it was time to get back into the mud.

Lynn Basa was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Bloomington, Indiana before moving to Seattle to attend grad school.  She relocated to Chicago in 2002 for its cultural vitality, opportunities, and community.  In 2014 she started Corner, a storefront project space, and in 2017 founded a nonprofit organization called the Milwaukee Avenue Alliance. Her work is included in numerous public, private, and museum collections such as the Museum of Arts and Design (New York), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence), Spencer Museum (Lawrence, Kansas), Tacoma Art Museum, and others.  She was included in the seminal exhibit Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical organized by the American Craft Museum before traveling to the Louvre and major museums in Helsinki, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Lausanne, Moscow, Ankara, Prague, Ghent, Goteborg, Berlin, and Barcelona. Her work was also part of the Smithsonian Institute’s landmark Threadworks exhibit, which traveled throughout eastern Africa.











When: Fri., Oct. 7, 2022 at 6:00 am - 8:00 pm

New York, NY- Space 776 is pleased to present the third solo exhibition of new paintings and ceramic sculptures by artist Lynn Basa.

Earlier this year, Lynn Basa made an abrupt return to ceramics inspired by images of hundreds of small wind-carved sand formations that appeared overnight on the shores of Lake Michigan near St. Joseph in early January 2022. Seldom seen and short-lived, these “sand hoodoos” launched Lynn Basa back into clay after a decades-long hiatus.

“I’ve known for a while that I chose encaustic as a painting medium because it had similar properties to clay.  The pigment and beeswax mixture is applied while molten hot and sealed by heat, it can be scraped and carved, there’s something primal about it. I want my work to look like it was made by itself, like there was no human ego behind it, with all of its self-doubts and outside influences.  It helps me channel my inner Neanderthal, to get into the mind frame of what art could have looked like before art history, the art market, institutions, and critical theory.  What would a completely unselfconscious, yet intentionally-made object look like? It’s a conundrum that I’ll never conquer.” – Lynn Basa

Basa started working with clay when she was 12 and continued through to an undergraduate degree in fine art with a concentration in ceramics. She gradually moved on to other materials but when Basa saw the sand hoodoos she knew instantly that it was time to get back into the mud.

Lynn Basa was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Bloomington, Indiana before moving to Seattle to attend grad school.  She relocated to Chicago in 2002 for its cultural vitality, opportunities, and community.  In 2014 she started Corner, a storefront project space, and in 2017 founded a nonprofit organization called the Milwaukee Avenue Alliance. Her work is included in numerous public, private, and museum collections such as the Museum of Arts and Design (New York), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence), Spencer Museum (Lawrence, Kansas), Tacoma Art Museum, and others.  She was included in the seminal exhibit Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical organized by the American Craft Museum before traveling to the Louvre and major museums in Helsinki, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Lausanne, Moscow, Ankara, Prague, Ghent, Goteborg, Berlin, and Barcelona. Her work was also part of the Smithsonian Institute’s landmark Threadworks exhibit, which traveled throughout eastern Africa.

Buy tickets/get more info now