GOBBI FINE ART is pleased to present NEEDS, a solo exhibition by artist Brianna Lance on view at 12 Mercer Street, NYC

Let’s start with a fact: Every second of the day our human minds are charged with the electricity of desire. Think of the infinite signals coursing through our heads, a power line hum of wants and urges, fantasies and visions – a shopping cart of hopes. Wild communiques colliding at lightspeed, on a hyper loop, as we walk to work, forget our passwords, order dinner, pull out gray hairs in the bathroom mirror.

Do you know what you want right now? What do you need at this very moment? Can you isolate an image of your desire?

Needs is a show of paintings by New York-based painter Brianna Lance. Her works stand on the borders of these questions. Each of her watercolors is not so much an answer, or a statement, but an attempt to map out desire.

The six new paintings in Needs are based roughly on the idea developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow, who insisted that human needs fall into a clear hierarchy. Think of a pyramid. At the top sits things like creativity, hope, spontaneity. And at the bottom essential needs such as food, water, shelter, breath. To fully experience the things at the top, one must have fulfilled the things at the bottom, Maslow thought.

If only this journey to the top had a direct route.

Lance’s paintings are a gentle reminder that desire is chaotic, hope is scattered, that the chaos of our minds can still be peaceful and serene. The sea of symbols seen in her work are familiar ones to her, bees and swans float throughout her dreamscapes. Protective shells, crumpled money, an egg with lentil like strands pushing through the shell — all pulled from her own dreams, tarot books, and ancient Hindu paintings.

Working mostly at night out of her East Village studio, Lance’s icons are precisely placed against a wash of poured watercolor, creating a palpable tension in each work. Almost as if to say that no matter how much we try to organize our desires, life, or fate (whatever you want to call it) can just as easily carry them away.

On View: May 9th - May 19th

Address: 12 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10013

For all inquiries, please email: info@gobbifineart.com