When life often feels as though it’s moving at a breakneck pace, the opportunity to stop and slow down feels more pertinent than ever—and even more so, the opportunity to deeply engage with art. 33PA's latest online exhibition explores the idea of stillness and quietude.
Running October 1 to 31, the show includes still lifes, figurative works, abstraction and more, by artists like Amy Ordoveza, Benji Alexander Palus, Heather Arenas, Sandra De Jaume, Gwen Manfrin and Sheila Flaherty.
Nicole Alger, Bones, oil on canvas, 2020 14 x 34"
Susan Lim’s oil on panel, Serenity, comes from the artist’s Immersive series. The piece captures a woman underwater, her hair sprawling freely in all directions. “This series depicts beauty in free-flowing garments in an underwater world where it is the quietest,” says Lim. “In a world where we are exposed to so much stimulation in our day-to-day activities, with so much stress and hustle and bustle, it’s a relief to escape and be somewhere we can relax and breathe, away from it all. Being able to float for a little, detaching the weight of the world and [breathing] a sigh of relief is what we all need daily. It’s the artist’s hope that this piece will create a peaceful environment [for] the viewer.”
Susan Lim, Serenity, oil on cradled wood panel, 2022, 20 x 20"
New York-based artist Nicole Alger uses a limited palette in her still life art in order to achieve visual harmony. “The atelier tradition teaches that less is more and that most color effects can be created with fewer pigments derived from the earth itself, as in ochre and umber,” she says. “I am drawn to the animist sensibility found in Asian scrolls which employ a simple palette, plus sparse design, to suggest stillness and tautness. In this painting, Bones, I depict stones and bark in a slightly strained design meaning to evoke an ancient understanding that nothing in this world is inert, and if we look steadily enough, narratives reveal themselves.”
Heather Arenas, Boarding Group B, 2024, oil on aluminum, 18 x 36"
Representational artist Alyssa Fields brings to the show an oil on canvas titled Two Hats, in which a young woman sits with a contemplative expression with two hats and a scarf hanging above her. The artist’s soft brushstrokes and subdued palette suggest a moment of aloneness and a sense of quiet—a moment of stillness. —
Alyssa Fields, Two Hats, 2019, oil on canvas, 40 x 30"
33PA Zhou B Art Center 4th Floor, 1029 W. 35th Street • Chicago, IL 60609 • www.poetsandartists.com • www.artsy.net/show/33-contemporary-stillness
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