Opening at Castelli Art Space this Saturday, artists Susan Lizotte and Trine Churchill offer two dynamic solo shows running through May 12th.
Lizotte’s New Work and Churchill’s The Woodstock Landscape are both singularly beautiful shows, each using palettes that vibrate with color and light. And, each have another element that makes this pairing special: emotional resonance.
Lizotte’s show introduces a new series of paintings that serve as an elegiac, lush tribute and response to the passing of her adoptive father last year. Loss, rebirth, and transformation find metaphors in works that echo the beauty of nature and the the life cycle. Floral and animal images serve as metaphors for the LA-based artist, as sinuous snakes pass through multi-hued panels, or serenely move through a scattering of leaves.
In her “Untitled 7,” bursting with life, a vivid purple dress – which also evokes an image of a tree trunk, steady and fecund, is bordered by stunning orange flowered vines. A multi-hued stained-glass-colored snake rises from its center; giant red blooms erupt from the sides.
In another work, “Untitled 10” – each of these works are untitled, which adds to an aura of mystery, with the viewer responsible for interpreting them – ripe red roses rise from a surface that resembles fabric; in “Untitled 8,” white blossoms cluster, reminding one of a spilled wedding bouquet. Richly impressionistic, these works possess a beguiling, enchanted quality.
Two snakes’ tongues meet in another work, while a sorrowing face emerges from “Untitled 9” in a piece that evokes the bottom of the sea. Her “Small Four Seasons” features panels in which snakes slip across each separate but emotionally and visually connected work: the aquamarine of spring, the rich gold of summer, the rusty brown of fall, and the cool lavender of winter form the backgrounds.
Lizotte’s work can be viewed both as simply gracious depictions of flowers and snakes, a kind of evocation of the Adam and Eve story in a garden of the viewers mind; or it can be seen as a transcendent look at mortality, at the slippery slope of life, death, birth; renewal and redemption after a harrowing passage.
Churchill’s work is more defined. The Woodstock Landscapes vividly and sweetly express the cultural shift of the Woodstock years. The Danish-born artist saw the aftermath of the 60s era tumult from Denmark, as a child. Her love of the music of the era – first truly experienced when coming of age in the 80s, resonated strongly through the years. So while in terms of literal time, Churchill was not a part of that era, emotionally she had a strong connection to the tenets of freedom and and joy it evoked.
In honor of the upcoming 2019 50th anniversary of Woodstock, Churchill created the body of work on display at Castelli. The internationally-exhibited artist explores how the 60s counterculture manifested globally and continues to do so through the years.
Her blissful color palette features abstract landscapes that imagine the grounds of the Woodstock music fest merged with personal images based on family photos.
This is memory as a fiction, creating a dreamy narrative. Her stories are beautifully shaped, as in “After the Storm,” in which a couple appears to be dancing, while a child pulls a large, seaweed-like bouquet of daisies from the muddy ground, and in the background, smaller figures stroll among striped tents.
Her “Version 2” is more dream-like, with a lush forest background, as apparently nude (at least from the waist up) figures float across a lake in a multi-hued, abstract boat.
“Finals” gives us an angelic young girl almost gliding through a field of tall flowers; behind her a quaint cabin stands, a representative of something solid in a world that is shifting – or wants to shift- into a more ephemeral beauty.
Together, both artists weave beautiful stories, poignant and romantic, each in their own way depicting renewal, change, and wonder.
Castelli Art Space is located at 5428 W. Washington, Los Angeles.
- Genie Davis; photos: courtesy of the artists; Genie Davis