Aubrey Levinthal’s paintings capture passing moments in the lives of a cast of (often autobiographical) characters in downtown Philadelphia. Something of the city’s light and colour has seeped into the scumbled greys that distinguish the muted, often melancholy tones of her palette. Each work offers a glimpse of a passing moment and part of an unspecified, usually urban story, echoing the oddness of everyday life, and reflecting the communality of human experience.
Her paintings have an unusual combination of intimacy and openness that owes something to the likes of Bonnard, Vuillard, Matisse and Milton Avery, yet they are resolutely contemporary in character and belong unequivocally to the time and place in which they are made. Recently the critic John Lau has described her as: “one of the most interesting and engaging figurative painters at a time when many artists are working in this vein.” But that alone, he continued, is not what makes this artist special, “what distinguishes Levinthal from her contemporaries is her ability to evoke a state that speaks directly our daily sense of unease and vulnerability… she has staked out a singular territory marked by melancholy, isolation, tenderness, and gentle humour.
This is her first major exhibition in the UK and will be accompanied by a 232pp monograph considering the artist’s work over the past decade, with texts by Jennifer Higgie and Hettie Judah.
