Penedit Magazine Article by Gloria I. N. | Ladies' Night at Soul Gallery Featuring Charlene Nield

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The Space Between: Charlene Nield at Soul Gallery
Art Night, Ladies' Night in Winnipeg's Exchange District - August 21st, 2025

I first came across American artist Charlene Nield's work earlier this year on Soul Gallery's website. Her work stood out immediately - so much so that I followed her on Instagram, something | rarely do. Her paintings felt light, playful, and uplifting, qualities I try to cultivate in my daily life and online spaces.

Seeing her work in person at Soul Gallery's Ladies' Night was a different experience altogether. What I wasn't expecting was the tension between playfulness and depth of thought in her pieces. The vivid colors and patterns draw you in with a sense of joy, but the faceless figures, chaotic, detailed backgrounds, and uneven horizons hint at something more thought-out and meticulous.

Walking into the gallery that evening, I felt the buzz of anticipation. I was lucky to be in the company of two good friends, and though another artist was also showing, my eyes kept drifting toward Nield's canvases: colorful, bright, and brimming with a kind of playful mystery.

The room filled with conversation and laughter, glasses clinked, but I found myself pulled into the stillness of Charlene Nield's figures, their faceless gazes, fabulous hair, and the strange, dreamlike worlds they inhabited.

I was especially fascinated by the underlying theme of self-presentation, which is a topic that interests me. Each painting radiated glamour and style. Nearly all of her subjects seem to pose as if for a portrait, seated against opulent backdrops.

The "Space Between"

Nield describes her practice as emerging from "the space between," a suspended zone where vivid color and rhythmic pattern resist the anxieties of contemporary life.
Her use of collage, layering, and recurring motifs allows her work to hover between memory, imagination, and interpretation.

Recurring Motits

Several motifs recur across Nield's body of work, functioning as prompts for interpretation. These lend her paintings a feel that is fun, whimsical, yet purposely deliberate, grounding the subjects in space even as they flirt with surrealism:

• Glamorously Dressed Figures - solitary women or stylish couples in fabulous suits and gowns.
• Uneven Horizons - shifting grounds, destabilized perspective, leaning toward the surreal.
• Faceless Figures - humans and animals alike rendered without features, inviting projection and interpretation
• Bright Hair or No Hair - introduces elements of individuality, modernity, vitality, rebellion.
• Black and White - appearing in checkered patterns, suits, floral wallpaper, and clothing that break up her bright palette with stark contrast, hinting at structure and formality.

Technique & Style

Nield works in layers, literally and metaphorically. She often builds her surfaces with heavy underpainting and fragments of collage, scratching through paint to reveal buried histories or leaving
"windows" into the past.
Her technique is less about technical polish than presence. She favors leaning into bold shapes, flat planes, and patterned backdrops that flatten space while heightening mood. The effect is almost theatrical, as if her figures were actors posed against stage sets, performing quiet gestures of everyday drama.

Interpretation

At first glance, the paintings exude a sense of whimsy: bright, joyful, and humorous.
But the facelessness of her figures and other elements complicate that lightness.
By omitting obvious markers of facial expression and identity, Nield's subjects remain elusive and universal. The viewer's gaze shifts instead to clothing, background, and posture, all of which underscore the theme of self-presentation.

Animals add another layer of intrigue. A towering horse with a tiny rider suggests imbalance or absurdity; a white rabbit in glasses reads like a trickster. These surreal and slightly absurd companions destabilize the human-centered gaze and introduce a playful ambiguity.

What emerges across Nield's body of work is not overt political critique but a subtler aesthetic resistance. Her paintings reclaim attention for whimsy,
flamboyance, glamour, and play. The work lingers precisely because it does not resolve into a singular message. Instead, it hovers in that "space between," where memory, imagination, and interpretation converge.

Soul Gallery's Role

The event, hosted by Julie, Soul Callery's owner and curator, carried the warmth and sophistication she has cultivated in Winnipeg's art scene. Since opening in the Exchange District, Julie has built a beautiful space where international artists and local collectors meet. I admire her immensely, not just as a gallerist, but as a woman and entrepreneur shaping space for contemporary art in this city.

Events like Ladies' Night underscore Winnipeg's evolving role as a site for both local and international art encounters. Even in a city often overshadowed by larger cultural hubs, Winnipeg audiences have access to work that speaks to global conversations in contemporary art. Soul Gallery has earned its reputation by curating intimate, social events that highlight both established and emerging artists.

For me, that evening was about socializing, meeting Julie, but mostly about discovering an artist who reminded me how distinct certain people's creative visions are, inspiring me to trust and refine my own creative expression, and not be afraid to be radically authentic.