This cycle is reflected back to us through our own biology, through nature and her seasons, and even through the formation and inevitable fall of societies—at all levels of existence there remains an organic return to the process of creation.
Connecticut-based painter Liz Leggett presents self-contained moments of a process in motion, or, as she describes it, moments of “tension…frenzy…[and] balance…,” with her oil works on canvas. Big Bust, for example, holds within it a chaos that is undoubtedly trying to find meaning and give shape to itself; quasi-defined forms, distinguished mostly through color, give way to only mere suggestions of separation. The work beautifully embodies the angst of a person not yet sure of themselves. There is a simultaneous desire for ambiguity and a need to be understood, the perfect centerpoint between the idea of a thing and the thing itself.
Contrasted with Leggett, the works by New York-based textile artist Melissa Dadourian present as the ideal—a materialized result of what realization can look and feel like. Dadourian’s Soft Weirdos features blocks of color, each with their own character and presence, working together to create what feels like a stable assemblage. Neither the fabric nor thread is competing for consideration, and the colors complement each other in a way that makes each one feel essential to the whole. Though there are singular threads hanging from one section into another, gentle remnants of their process, the works have been brought to fruition. The works present as having reached their “final form,” and are thus free to radiate a quality of confidence that comes only with maturity.
On the other hand, New York-based Brazilian artist Clara Fialho offers innocent meditations on paper and canvas that are unconcerned with the realities of interpretation and judgment. Free from an explicit agenda, colors bleed into each other beneath soft curves and pockets of negative space, likening them to cells being observed under a microscope. At this stage of life, there is very little distinction, and while Fialho utilizes varying color, the repetition of shapes and harmonious palette evokes a sense of kinship throughout.
As a whole, the works by Leggett, Dadourian, and Fialho embody a distilled version of a life cycle. Each work holds within it the knowledge and beauty of the various stages we all traverse during our lifetime, and regardless of which stage one is currently in, there is resonance to be found.
Statment and curation by Brianna Luz Fernandez
