Lexington, KY
Clay Wainscott paints pictures of local architecture, nudes, people he knows, random household objects, flowers, and highways. It’s an array of subjects quotidian and broad enough to feel random and meaningless. He paints these canvases big and he paints them glowing, a quality achieved through the layering of pure acrylic color in a glossy medium. That iridescence, in combination with certain themes, matters: kettles on stovetops and tangles of bikes do not usually merit such attention. Flowers and nudes, on the other hand, have been admired long enough. What more do they need, really? But the steps in a parking garage, now there’s something that hasn’t gotten enough love, not from architects or car drivers or artists—until now. They can only be the better for it.
—Lori Waxman 3/23/17 4:04 PM