Hot.  If only one word could be used to describe Modfellows’s exhibition Rise, this is it.  Showcasing work by artists Cara Lynch and Suzy Smith, Rise consists of paintings that are obviously bold, bright, and provocative.  Lynch is a multidisciplinary artist based in Nashville and NYC whose eye for abstraction makes me weak in the knees.  Her collection of work delivers forms that appear fractured, like floral illustrations kaleidoscopically gyrated, balanced yet disinterested in symmetry.  Smith resides in Albuquerque, and paints crazy gorgeous women who don’t seem to care about the male gaze, all the while fully grasping what it is.  Art historical references to Pop art heavy hitters such as Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Thiebaud are included in some of Smith’s paintings, further intensifying the awareness of youth and sex rendered inextricable to commodification, a burden disproportionately thwarted upon women.  Smith is wise, though, in pushing such references to her paintings’ backgrounds, her female figures rendered atop, tough, poised, possibly adorning accessories of fashions past, as if to ask, “Okay, what’s next?”

Rise is on exhibit until July 1st at Modfellows gallery.
3655 Trousdale Dr. Studio C, Nashville, TN 37204