Kelly Reemtsen: Fool's Gold

LOS ANGELES CA | albertz benda is thrilled to present Fool’s Gold, a new exhibition by Kelly Reemtsen opening April 2. Marking a new direction in the artist’s practice, Reemtsen’s iconic female figures now appear bathed in radiant fields of colored light, casting neon pink and green glows across the compositions. The exhibition includes a suite of oil paintings on panel and a group of unique hand-embellished screenprints.

The title Fool’s Gold invokes pyrite, the mineral long mistaken for precious metal, and points to the exhibition’s central tension: appearances can deceive. In these new paintings, Reemtsen’s signature female figures appear dressed in gold. Rather than using metallic paint, the artist constructs the illusion of reflective surfaces through layered color, creating what she describes as a painterly “magic trick”.

Alongside these paintings, Reemtsen will present three unique screenprints, each finished with gold leaf and hand-collaged elements. Echoing the reflective surfaces of the paintings, these works further explore the illusionistic qualities of gold and the seductive power of shine. Throughout this exhibition, Reemtsen’s glittering figures evoke glamour and artifice alike, embracing the contradictions of gold as a symbol of value, desire, and excess.