LARISSA LOCKSHIN

Larissa Lockshin paints colorful, confectionary abstractions on satin. A shiny fabric typically reserved for dressmaking is used unprimed, allowing breaks of light to adorn the surface. Motifs and color arrangements echo images of landscape, while the tension between the matte pigment and the lustrous fabric edges into the realm of the sculptural. The viewer is encouraged to move around the piece as its appearance will change from different vantage points or variations in lighting. The work eludes the confines of digital reproduction, as it is difficult to photograph due to the living aspect of the painting’s ground.

Lockshin uses unusual materials, crude markings and gestures and rich color palettes to create approachable work, while still paying respect to traditional painting theory and historical predecessors as a foundation for her practice. Mainly aiming to reconcile the difference between “high art” and “craft”, not unaware of the massive gender inequality present in art, historically up until today, her use of categorically feminine materials as applied to established Classical or Modernist painting theory is crucial to expose and challenge the bias that these processes are lesser in importance or value.

Newly incorporated elements include hand-dying the satin, heightening the play between the glittering surface and matte pigment, and hand-carved frames. Utilizing further sculptural elements, the work is pushed further into the space between painting and sculpture, becoming difficult to categorize solely within either medium.

Text courtesy Alzueta Gallery.