“Phosphorescence and Gasoline”, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Danielle Roberts at Fredericks & Freiser
Fredericks & Freiser is presenting Phosphorescence and Gasoline, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Danielle Roberts. Her work explores a dark, psychological terrain, blending the vibrant energy of Neo(n) Noir lighting with a Hopper-like melancholy. These paintings encapsulate a generation adrift, navigating a world suffused with eerie beauty and perpetual unease. The atmosphere of Roberts’ art resonates with a profound loneliness, evoking a hazy, wistful longing.
Central to Danielle Roberts paintings is the use of illumination, with a range of light sources shaping each scene. Electric lights, whether neon signs at gatherings, hazy reflections in bathrooms, or the glaring halos of car headlights, dominate many compositions. These artificial illuminations echo Marshall McLuhan’s insight into electricity as a mythic force, transforming the mundane into something profound. Yet Roberts juxtaposes this artificial brilliance with natural luminescence.
Forest shadows that swallow light and bioluminescent algae in ocean waters offer an organic counterpoint, reflecting back a distorted familiarity of urban bars, bedrooms, and suburban strip malls. These places, though recognizable, become uncanny, positioning viewers as voyeurs, distanced yet immersed, as though peering into someone else’s life from behind misted glass or through forest fog.
Danielle Roberts’ paintings often evoke the mythical, drawing on archetypes and creating modern parables. In one piece, a woman pulls a rope from an unfathomable ocean, invoking the spirit of an ancient mariner. Other scenes capture moments of disconnection and desire—parties populated by weary, detached faces or couples entranced by psychedelic lights.
Her works convey an emotional intensity reminiscent of Ernst Kirchner’s vivid depictions of urban life. The figures, rendered with a striking combination of soft, atmospheric brushwork and bold, opaque planes of color, carry a sense of vulnerability and fragmented depth. These are not hollow caricatures but deeply personal embodiments of collective generational struggles.
Rather than offering explanations, Roberts’ art invites contemplation, triggering sensory echoes and emotional memory. Her connection to the wooded coastlines of North America, a landscape ingrained from childhood, roots these works in a tangible sense of place. Simultaneously, the settings and emotions evoke a broader shared experience of early twenty-first-century America, blending familiarity with alienation. Memories resurface in fragments, carried by the foggy, atmospheric quality of her scenes.