NYAB Event - Sydney Licht Exhibition

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At Kathryn Markel Fine Arts
Media: Painting

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Through her masterly control of paint and its color and surface, Sydney Licht continues her investigation of the still life in which the mundane is transformed into the monumental. “Traditionally, still life paintings have portrayed items from the realm of the domestic… food, utensils, dishes, flowers and other elements that celebratethe table. These days,” she states, “our food often arrives at the table packaged up, sealed and sanitized.” The subjects of the small paintings in this exhibition are indeed a Bergdorf shopping bag, a candy box, and other recognizable consumer detritus of our time, which the viewer might overlook at first glance. These throwaway containers sport a color, a pattern, even an attitude that capture Licht’s attention. She then begins the painstaking process of creating her set up, moving boxes on patterned fabrics to create various compositions of shape, color, and pattern. The setups are then painted, viewed from below, with bold color and contrasting surfaces. Consumer containers become, in Licht’s paintings, towering urban architecture. Licht loves the sensuality of paint, the contrast of a stringent surface with a buttery one, unexpected color combinations and compositions, tipped and unbalanced. For Licht, the abstraction of the painted surface is an integral part of the actual subject matter and the pleasure she takes in painting is contagious. “Whether wildly florescent or quietly monochromatic, the color functions as a reflection of the world around me. Decorative patterns depicted on the boxes and tablecloths add to the visual mix,” says Licht. “The luscious physicality of the painted surfaces compensates for the lack of conventionally enticing depictions of food."

[Image: Sydney Licht "Still Life With Blue Box 8" (2007) Oil on linen 8 x 8 in.]

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