NYAB Event - Lisa Breslow "Urban Silences"

Lisa Breslow "Urban Silences"

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts

This event has ended.

In Urban Silences, Breslow continues her quest to capture moments of quietude in the notoriously loud city she lives in. For years, she has visually explored New York’s usually chaotic and buzzing urban landscape in its calmest state, namely during early morning hours or in the aftermath of a blizzard, for example. Breslow’s search for tranquility has further led her to scenes of Central Park at dusk and most recently, to still life’s that unfold in front of her own window, a symbolic barrier between the peaceful interior of her home and the hectic street life that waits on the other side.
Rather than looking to escape the energy that comes with the textures of a metropolis, Breslow focuses on distilling distinct moods. While the crowded streets of SoHo on a Saturday afternoon might best evoke New York’s international image, it is when stripped almost bare of people and traffic, when a line of traffic lights floats into the sky-lined distance that we get a sense of the city as a character. Never fully abandoned, it remains a platform, stage and showcase for countless activities and people. However, in Breslow’s depictions, we are allowed to watch the city with as little distraction as possible; to see her multi-faceted structure as it glistens in the light, vanishes into the shadows and comes to take on its iconic stature.
For the first time, Breslow has increased the scale of her paintings. In addition to intimate works, Urban Silences will also feature several large compositions. Rendered in Breslow’s unmistakable hand that blends Realist vocabulary with atmospheric light, and sophisticated use of color and form, these works reveal a distinct characteristic. While Breslow’s smaller works can manifest as windows onto the world, these large paintings translate as true gateways, creating the illusion that the silent world before us could truly be entered, be experienced visually as well as physically.
Lisa Breslow has exhibited extensively in the United States. This will be her second solo exhibition with the gallery.