George Billis Gallery | Through 12/5 | New York, NY

Heirlooms

George Bill Gallery in NYC exhibits new works by Leslie Lewis Sigler.

Objects in a home, like flatware, vessels and various silver, carry the stories of all of those who used them, and thus, are imbued with their own inherent meanings. Some of these heirlooms may end up in antique shops, while others are passed on to relatives, but all the same, a story is always there.

Leslie Lewis Sigler, who resides in California, finds these objects beautiful, whether it be an ornate, gleaming vase or a weathered set of forks and spoons. In many ways, Sigler’s fascination began when her mother-in-law sent her a box of mismatched, tarnished silverware that had once belonged to the godmother of Sigler’s husband. “She was very eclectic, a collector of strange things,” the artist says of her husband’s godmother. “I remember opening the box and thinking, ‘What am I going to do with this?’ One day, I painted [one of the utensils and thought] ‘This is so interesting,’” Sigler explains. “I started thinking of them as mismatched relatives, and that was the spark. Ever since then, I just can’t stop.”The Kindred, oil on panel, 16 x 12"

Because of the reflective surfaces of the silver she depicts, each painting contains elements of abstraction in capturing whatever imagery is reflected on each item. Almost like a painting within a painting. “Most of them lately have been more complex reflections...In the end, I think it’s really interesting for the viewer to get lost in there...I feel like no matter who you are, you have a connection to silver somehow,” says Sigler.The Oracle, oil on panel, 40 x 40"

While the oil painter’s works are usually “portraits” of a singular item, lately her body of work features, for the first time, multiple objects in one painting. Referencing The Vanguard and The Kindred, Sigler says, “I was looking around my studio at all of these singular objects and thought, ‘They look so lonely.’” She explains that during the isolation of quarantine, when these works were created, she was especially missing family and friends, prompting her to begin organizing compositions with the objects together, rather than on their own.

“I’ve [also] been experimenting more with scale,” says the artist, citing The Oracle, The Time Traveler and The Suffragette. “These are all pretty big for me.” The largest of the paintings measures 40 by 40 inches.The Skeptic, oil on panel, 10 x 8"

“You can really get into those reflections and just get lost in the beauty that is inherent in these beautiful objects,” she adds. “I just want people to wonder, ‘What kind of life did this thing have?’”

These works and others will be on view during an exhibition at George Billis Gallery in New York City through December 5.

George Billis Gallery
525 W. 26th Street, Ground Floor • New York, NY 10001 • (212) 645-2621 • www.georgebillis.com