Light of Lillie

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on December 16, 2021 at 4:29pm

Curator’s Comments:  

Light of Lillie appeared randomly, and I was drawn in by the organic abstraction.  One can’t help thinking about Monet’s waterlilies when confronted with an expanse of the flowers floating on an open water field, from this slight aerial perspective.  But rather than present ephemeral fluctuations of color and light, this painting shows a robust and deeply contrasted encounter with the subject.  The upper left corner further gives way to opaque, gestural passages of tinted hues, more akin to Abstract Expressionist brushstrokes than Impressionists.  I enjoy the changes in movement that come with the marks, as the grouping of waterlilies rises up from the bottom of the picture plane.  The pinkish blooms in the center of the painting visually anchor the swirling leaves, and ground the work in a more representational mode; without them I believe I would see the piece as even more abstract. Looking back through your other paintings posted to the site, I remember admiring and commenting on Women in Flooded Room.  While that work arguably has more psychological apprehension due to the position of the figure, I can see a similar push and pull and constrained energy in Light of Lillie.  Both paintings were both shared quite a while back, and I do hope you consider adding new work.  The tension between realism and abstraction is engaging, and inspiring to me.