Mercer-Based Artist Gets Solo Showcase At Princeton University Art Museum

PRINCETON, NJ – An exhibition of recent works by the Hamilton–based painter, Léni Paquet-Morante, will open at the Princeton University Art Museum's Art@Bainbridge gallery this summer.

Title Extract/Abstract, the exhibition will be held from July 19 to Nov. 9.

Paquet-Morante's work reconfigures familiar landscape elements to capture the elusiveness of memory and dreams.

Curated by Michael Quituisaca, a graduate student in Princeton’s Department of Art & Archaeology, the exhibition will showcase works by the artist across acrylic painting, ink drawing, and monoprints.

“Léni Paquet-Morante has a special ability to transform landscapes into eclectic and emotionally contemplative works of art,” said Quituisaca. “Extract / Abstract showcases the varied and distinct ways she interprets the world, from plein-air observational abstractions to synthetic abstractions that rearrange the objects in her field of vision. With this exhibition, we see PaquetMorante reexamining notions of natural beauty as she creates new visual hierarchies.” Extract / Abstract will span four rooms, beginning with Paquet-Morante’s large-scale painting Vernal Pool, Shade (2022).

“Paquet-Morante’s oeuvre invites us to think deeply about the interconnectedness of nature, dreams, and memory,” notes James Steward, Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, Director of the Princeton University Art Museum. “We are especially privileged to have this occasion to celebrate another artist from our region, and to partner with one of our brightest graduate students in presenting the artist’s unique vision.”

Also on view will be Paquet-Morante’s works on paper, including the diptych Shallows in Yellow and Black (2023), which represents the artist’s sustained interest in water and its resonance with the fragmentation of memory.

Paquet-Morante is based in Hamilton and has studio space at Grounds for Sculpture.

She was the recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Finalist Grant for Painting in 2024 and has been the subject of solo exhibitions throughout the region.

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