TALIA LEVITT

In 24/7, Talia Levitt presents a new body of work that reflects her joyful, chaotic and creatively charged experience of becoming a mother while carrying forward cultural and familial traditions – a contemplation of life and the cyclical nature of time. The work was conceived during the early days of motherhood, as the boundary between studio and domestic life blurred: ‘I was painting in bed with my daughter,’ Levitt recalls. The result is a series of intricately layered paintings that function as visual diaries filled with humour, elation, hope, exhaustion and tenderness.

Levitt’s process is as meticulous as it is inventive. Each composition begins with painted patterns that resemble quilts or collages. A precise grid is first scored into the surface with a knife and paint is piped to emulate embroidery. Levitt then embellishes the surfaces with sequins, gemstones and other decorative elements, all cast in acrylic. Pushing her medium to its technical and aesthetic limits, she constructs rich trompe l’oeil paintings that weave together symbolic motifs from Dutch still lifes – fruit, flowers and candles – with contemporary signifiers of parenthood, such as pacifiers, baby clothes and childhood jewellery boxes. This interplay of the elevated and the everyday, when combined with the illusionistic effect of trompe l’oeil, encourages viewers to look more closely and consider the beauty and complexity of a life lived all at once.

Courtesy Victoria Miro.