Robert Lange Studios | 1/1-1/23 | Charleston, NC

Artful Ambiguity

Larisa Brechun has her debut solo show at Robert Lange Studios

Welcome Home: Larisa Brechun is the artist’s debut exhibition at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, South Carolina. It runs from January 1 through 23.

Robert and Megan Lange comment, “There are moments in the life of a gallery when an artist arrives, whose work feels so perfectly aligned with its spirit that it’s almost as if they’ve been there all along. Larisa Brechun is one of those rare artists. Her arrival marks not only a new collaboration but a heartfelt continuation of the gallery’s devotion to authenticity, beauty and the quiet strength of painting.”

Midnight Drowse, oil on panel, 24 x 24 in.

Brechun paints in her studio north of San Antonio, Texas, surrounded by her dogs and cats. “When I view other artists’ work, I always find myself relating to it in my own personal way…finding my own meaning in it,” she says. “So, I really enjoy making paintings that allow the viewer to do the same. Something that’s a little ambiguous but will make the viewer feel something. Find their own personal meaning in it.”

Moonlight Slumber, oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.

Moonlight Slumber, now in the collection of the New Salem Museum of Art in Massachusetts, embodies that ambiguity. The moon reflects the sun, but its light is seen as blue because our eyes are more sensitive to blue in low lighting conditions. The figure could be illuminated by the reflected light of the moon or reflecting sunlight herself. She, like the moon, becomes distanced despite her closeness—part of nature itself.

“I like the ambiguous light in my figurative work,” Brechun says. “For me, it gives it a more surrealistic quality when it’s simply a lit figure existing in a landscape. It’s that kind of glowing light that you can almost feel…I really try to convey a strong sense of mood and atmosphere in my work, and using contrasting light and shadow seems to be an effective way of doing it.

Luna, oil on panel, 30 x 30 in.

“When I made Moonlight Slumber, I was going through a particularly sad time in my life and wanted to create something that reflected those feelings,” the artist explains. “I think the blue light of moonlight can have a very somber feeling to it, but at the same time it can be comforting and magical as well. Somber but hopeful.” —