“In his cups”, 2008, oil on canvas, 34 x 24 inch
About the Show
Schaefer is a Denver native, though her BFA is from Lewis and Clarke in Portland. She’s been back since 2002, and had expanded her oeuvre immensely. This exhibition shows two series she’s been working on. The first is fairly familiar and reminiscent of much of her recent work, large canvases with single, organic objects (specifically squash blossoms, asparagus and the like). Her composition emphasizes the reflections of these objects on highly luminescent surface. Where the object itself is perfectly executed and undoubtedly familiar to the viewer, the reflection is an eerie abstraction of the familiar. The single object on each canvas exudes a sense of isolation, but also of quiet simplicity. One can read profound psychological ideas into her work, or one can simply appreciates the painstaking process she uses to create her surfaces.
The second half of her show is a new series of work that may initially appear as abstracts. But, in fact, they too are perfect representations of objects. In this series, however, she departs from her organic shapes and replaces them with inorganic ones, namely crushed, metal bottle caps. She paints these objects with the same vigor and precisions as the flowers and plants, but the effect is entirely different. This series is loaded with social commentary fodder for debate (alcohol consumption, consumerism, waste and social norms). They are bizarre abstractions of tangibly abstract objects, but they are cohesive with the rest of her collection in the purity and elegance of their shapes.
This exhibition shows her work to be extremely engaging and very lyrical. Perhaps it is the texture of her surfaces or the subject matter of her work, but there is a very poetic or narrative element to her pieces. Schaefer has taken much inspiration from poetry, so it’s possible that her allusions to the genre are more subtle than the formal elements of her work.
