Sergei Rachmaninov

Gail Chase-Bien has a way of creating boundless worlds within the edges of the canvas. Her nature-inspired abstract, landscape and figurative paintings blur the distinction between background and foreground, inviting the viewer’s imagination to structure the piece. She brings softness, subtlety and suggestion to the edgy world of contemporary art.

Chase-Bien was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1946. She attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, receiving a bachelor’s of fine art in 1977 and a master’s of fine art in 1980. She held her first solo exhibition at Highlight Gallery in Mendocino in 1985 and continued to show steadily throughout California during the rest of the ’80s and ’90s.

Chase-Bien’s collection of work is a tribute to nature and the play of light upon the colors of the landscape. At the same time, her paintings are a meditation upon the human spirit and an invitation for introspection. Each piece takes her anywhere from a few months to years to make using oil paints on linen.

Chase-Bien currently lives and works in Napa County. Her ethereal paintings are held in many private collections and are exhibited at galleries and museums across California and beyond.

On 1stDibs, find a selection of Gail Chase-Bien paintings.

Bring audacious experiments with color and textures to your living room, dining room or home office. Abstract paintings, large or small, will stand out in your space, encouraging conversation and introducing a museum-like atmosphere that’s welcoming and conducive to creating memorable gatherings.

Abstract art has origins in 19th-century Europe, but it came into its own as a significant movement during the 20th century. Early practitioners of abstraction included Wassily Kandinsky, although painters were exploring nonfigurative art prior to the influential Russian artist’s efforts, which were inspired by music and religion. Abstract painters endeavored to create works that didn’t focus on the outside world’s conventional subjects, and even when artists depicted realistic subjects, they worked in an abstract mode to do so.

In 1940s-era New York City, a group of painters working in the abstract mode created radical work that looked to European avant-garde artists as well as to the art of ancient cultures, prioritizing improvisation, immediacy and direct personal expression. While they were never formally affiliated with one another, we know them today as Abstract Expressionists.

The male contingent of the Abstract Expressionists, which includes Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell, is frequently cited in discussing leading figures of this internationally influential postwar art movement. However, the women of Abstract Expressionism, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell and others, were equally involved in the art world of the time. Sexism, family obligations and societal pressures contributed to a long history of their being overlooked, but the female Abstract Expressionists experimented vigorously, developed their own style and produced significant bodies of work.

Draw your guests into abstract oil paintings across different eras and countries of origin. On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive range of abstract paintings along with a guide on how to arrange your wonderful new wall art.

If you’re working with a small living space, a colorful, oversize work can create depth in a given room, but there isn’t any need to overwhelm your interior with a sprawling pièce de résistance. Colorful abstractions of any size can pop against a white wall in your living room, but if you’re working with a colored backdrop, you may wish to stick to colors that complement the decor that is already in the space. Alternatively, let your painting make a statement on its own, regardless of its surroundings, or group it, gallery-style, with other works.