BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN (stephaniebuhmann.com)
LISA BRESLOW: PAINTINGS AND PRINTS
The paintings and works on paper by New York-based Lisa Breslow reflect the artist’s ambition to discover contemplative places in her everyday urban home environment. In this exhibition of strictly new work, Breslow continues to explore New York in its calmest state, during off-hours on the street or in Central Park, when they are devoid of crowds. In fact, it is the early morning or evening light that the artist is most drawn to and knows how to capture especially well.
In this particular body of work, Breslow pushes the notion of tranquility further by adding a selection of exquisite still lifes. Frozen in time without much reference to the characteristics of their immediate environment, the loosely arranged flowers take on an almost iconographic and otherworldly quality. A street scene captured after a rainstorm and a bouquet studied on a windowsill might seem rather traditional at first glance, but it is Breslow’s fine focus on form and atmosphere that gives her subject a notable twist.
Compared to previous work, Breslow has now begun to embrace scale. Her new paintings are larger and her compositions appear bolder; details are more crisply delineated and rendered in an increasingly heightened palette. In some ways, Breslow has started to insert a faint sense of drama into the calm.
Through Dec. 20, at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts (529 W. 20th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.–Fri., 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Call 212-366-5368 or visit markelfinearts.com.
