NEW YORK, NY.- L’Space Gallery presents Playing with Light, a solo exhibition featuring the groundbreaking work of Danielle Frankenthal, curated and accompanied by a catalog essay by art critic Lilly Wei. On view from February 20th to April 5th, 2025, the exhibition invites audiences to experience a world where light, transparency, and spatial perception redefine the boundaries of contemporary abstraction.
Danielle Frankenthal, Garden #2, 2024, Acrylic paint, oil stick on acrylic resin, 50 x 50 inches
Danielle Frankenthal is celebrated for her pioneering approach of using acrylic panels layered with various paint techniques. Over three decades, she has developed an innovative visual language that merges physical and illusionistic space. Her multidimensional works evoke ephemeral landscapes and atmospheric nuances, brought to life through dynamic brushwork, pearlescent grounds, and gilded details.
Danielle Frankenthal, L_Heure Bleu, 2023, 50x50_ acrylioc paint and oil stick on acrylic resin
The exhibition showcases Frankenthal’s Gardens and Clouds series, which transforms traditional ideas of depth and perspective into fluid, kaleidoscopic compositions that shift as the viewer moves. Her unique method makes light an active participant in her creations, dissolving boundaries between abstraction and representation. According to Lilly Wei, “Light has top billing in Danielle Frankenthal’s improbably radiant paintings, while color and its incessant fluctuations are given critical supporting roles.”
Danielle Frankenthal, Garden #1, 2024, Acrylic paint, oil stick on acrylic resin, 50 x 50 inches
Frankenthal’s work connects with a lineage of trailblazing female abstract painters such as Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, and Lee Krasner, who also revolutionized the interplay between form, emotion, and abstraction. Yet, Frankenthal’s work stands apart by directly engaging with light as a medium, building on Paul Cézanne’s assertion that light must be represented through color while extending its physical presence to evolve with the viewer’s perception.
Danielle Frankenthal, Cloud (2), 2024, Acrylic paint, oil stick, and metal gilding on acrylic resin, 48 x 48 inches
Playing with Light underscores Frankenthal’s singular ability to harness the transient beauty of light and color, making her one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary abstraction. As Wei notes, “Frankenthal’s works are an invitation to step into a world of impermanence and possibility, where perception itself is as fluid and layered as her compositions.”
Danielle Frankenthal, Cloud (4), 2024, Acrylic paint, oil stick, and metal gilding on acrylic resin, 48 x 48 inches
The seductive paintings of Danielle Frankenthal—four thumbs up, rosettes (and knives and forks) actually. – David Anfam
Moving from opaqueness to transparency, painterly density to linear spontaneity, Frankenthal transforms a finite surface into an infinite horizon. – Donald Kuspit
Like real clouds, Frankenthal’s clustered brush marks are constantly shapeshifting…endlessly engaging. – Lilly Wei
Danielle Frankenthal, Garden #3, 2022, Acrylic paint, oil stick on phosphorescent acrylic resin, 50 x 50 inches
The Clouds series captures ephemeral, shifting weather patterns through layered whites, grays, and subtle hues, of which Frankenthal explains, “[Clouds] represent weather in a physical sense, being both evanescent and powerful, and also as a metaphor for the human spirit or soul.”
Danielle Frankenthal is an American artist known for her innovative exploration of light, transparency, and spatial perception. Working with layered acrylic resin panels, she creates multidimensional works that shift with light and viewer movement, emphasizing the interplay between materiality and shadow. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Columbus Museum of Art, and the Museo Casa Santo Domingo in Guatemala. Frankenthal’s practice bridges painting and sculpture, offering a dynamic and interactive experience that challenges traditional notions of form and space.
Installation view.
The Curator
Curator Lilly Wei (b. Chengdu, China) is a New York-based independent curator, writer, journalist, and critic whose area of interest is global contemporary art, in particular emerging art and artists. She writes frequently on international exhibitions and biennials, and her work has appeared in dozens of publications worldwide. The author of numerous catalogs and monographs, she has curated exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Wei lectures frequently on critical and curatorial practices and sits on the board and advisory councils of several not-for-profit art organizations. She has an MA in art history from Columbia University, New York.
Installation view.
L’SPACE
L’SPACE, founded by artist Lili Almog, is nestled in the heart of Chelsea, 524 West 19th Street, NYC. The gallery offers a refreshing departure from the commercial-focused establishments that abound in the area, functioning independently as an open source for artists, audiences, curators, collectors, and critics. L'SPACE breaks free from convention by operating on a project basis that prioritizes concepts over a singular voice. This distinctive approach redefines artistic engagement by blending art, design, and collaboration, unveiling innovative creativity, and emphasizing the interplay between art, space, and the viewer.
