Biography

b. 1954, Glen Cove, NY

Nansi T. Lent is a painter and photographer from Rhinebeck, NY. She holds a B.A. in Studio Art from Boston College and a Master’s in Visual Arts Administration from NYU.

Starting as a photographer, Lent began painting decades ago, finding now that photography reimagines her paintings, while painting serves as a cathartic expression of the soul. She has exhibited widely in New York’s Hudson Valley and beyond, including at The Katonah Museum of Art, The Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Gallery 40, Queen City 15, The Coral Springs Art Museum, Goggleworks, The New York Public Library, The Starr Library, The Bank Art Gallery, and Upstream Gallery, among others.

Lent has received multiple awards, including Best in Show at the Rockaway Artists Association and Honorable Mention at the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum. Her work is held in private collections across the United States and Europe.

She has served on the board of the National Association of Women Artists and, in 2018, founded Womenswork.art, a gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY. She is currently represented by BAU Gallery in Beacon and serves on the Board of Directors at the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum.

Artist Statement

Having been surrounded by neurodivergence and mental health challenges my entire life, I have devoted myself to studying the brain, consciousness and spirituality. In an era of relentless communication—where words saturate every medium yet often fail to convey true meaning—I find a profound paradox that fuels my creative inquiry. Beneath the clamor of endless discourse, there is a subtle spiritual longing—a quiet yearning for a deeper, more authentic connection beyond the surface of language.

My paintings and photographic palimpsests confront this paradox head-on. They feature illegible text, abstract calligraphy, redaction, masking, and digital distortion, using a wide array of media—from inks, brushes, and markers to layers of color, mica, acrylic, vinyl paints, and rubber cement as a resist. The resulting pieces – most very different from one another - are raw, cathartic, and poetic -purposefully stripped of semantic content to invite personal interpretation.

Central to my work is the use of asemic writing — marks that resemble language without fixed meaning. This approach serves as a post-internet response to the rapid devolution of handwriting into digital code. Handwriting, a craft refined over centuries as a deeply personal form of expression, has largely been reduced to sterile digital text. In contrast, my asemic works champion the raw urge to write from the heart, unmediated by machines and algorithms.

At the core of this exploration lies my persistent fascination with the phenomena of self-talk—the inner dialogue that unites us all. While our personal narratives are unique, they underscore a shared humanity that transcends words. By incorporating gestural elements that capture the elusive nature of introspective conversation, my work reveals the common pulse of our inner voices and hints at that quiet longing for something deeper.

By obscuring and manipulating script, my art mirrors the current crisis in communication. Amidst the clamor of endless discourse, true understanding becomes increasingly elusive. I invite viewers to decode and question the efficacy of language in our information-saturated society, and to seek a deeper, non-verbal connection that speaks to both the mind and the heart. Ultimately, my art seeks to affirm my deeply held belief that across all cultures, geographies and socio-economic strata –- we are more alike than different.

Nansi T. Lent: Bridging Painting and Photography Through Visual Language

By Caroline Margaret

Nansi T. Lent is a distinguished painter and photographer based in Rhinebeck, NY. With a B.A. in Studio Art from Boston College and a Master’s in Visual Arts Administration from NYU, Lent’s artistic journey has been one of transformation and exploration. Initially working as a photographer, she later turned to painting as a deeply personal and cathartic means of expression. Over time, photography has evolved into a medium through which she reinterprets and reimagines her painted works, forming a dynamic interplay between the two disciplines.