Loren Erdrich | Siren Song

Bricks Gallery is pleased to present Siren Song, a solo exhibition by Loren Erdrich, with an opening reception on Friday, August 15, from 5-8 PM. This marks Erdrich’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, showcasing the breadth of her artistic practice across paintings on canvas, stoneware sculptures, and works on paper.

In a world that demands speed and certainty, Loren Erdrich’s works invite us to slow down. Her universe offers a space where vulnerability becomes strength, where transformation is constant, and where questions are more valuable than answers. Balancing tenderness with subtle discomfort, romanticism with gentle unease, her practice reveals how slowness allows us to see what might otherwise remain unnoticed.

Moving fluidly between painting, sculpture, and works on paper, Erdrich has developed a visual language that is recognizable yet open-ended. Her figures and forms hover between the identifiable and the abstract, caught in the midst of a smile, a tear, or a soft gesture, as if they are on their way somewhere. Like flowers wilting and growing, they remain in a state of becoming, reminding us of life’s cycles and the traces of what came before. At times, chandeliers, candlesticks, and heads sprout from her subjects, merging the familiar with the mythological.

Light moves through these works - in the eyes of her figures, in glazes, colors, and the use of white - acting as a gentle force that hints at life and love while illuminating the surfaces and the depths beneath.

Layering and openness to uncertainty are central to her process. Colors, forms, and materials blend and separate, creating surfaces that hold histories within them. Past layers are never fully erased but inform what the work becomes, allowing for moments of surprise that bring each piece to life. Her ceramics embrace this unpredictability, with the firing and glazing process mirroring the layered approach found in her paintings and drawings.

Recognizable figures may provide an anchor for the viewer, but Erdrich’s work resists simple interpretation. Meaning emerges not only through what is depicted but through how the work comes into being - through process, materiality, and the feelings that unfold in their presence. Vulnerability runs throughout, visible in fragile surfaces and expressions that carry an intimacy and universality, offering a soft yet powerful reminder of the strength found in embracing change.

Text by Amanda Dam

Loren Erdrich (b. 1978) is an American artist, who lives and works in New York City. She holds an MFA from Burren College of Art, National University of Ireland Galway (IRE), and an BFA from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL (US). She has recently exhibited with SHRINE (New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA, US), Harper’s (New York, NY, US), Nicodim (Los Angeles, CA, US) and Wasserman Projects (Detroit, MI, US).  Erdrich has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, Jentel Foundation, Santa Fe Art Institute, Sculpture Space, Vermont Studio Center and Art Farm Nebraska.