Sara Nightingale Gallery is pleased to present Stephanie Brody-Lederman, Behind the Seen through May 23rd, 2021. In recent times, most of what is “seen” can be viewed repeatedly, because it has likely been photographed or filmed. Sometimes horrific and sometimes beautiful, human memories play on continuous loops for all to share. But personal memories, those which were not filmed but rather experienced, are malleable. Elizabeth Loftus, a psychologist who is an expert on memory, has written, “Our representation of the past takes on a living, shifting reality. It is not fixed and immutable, not a place way back there that is preserved in stone, but a living thing that changes shape, expands, shrinks, and expands again, an amoeba-like creature.”
Brody-Lederman continues to chronicle “the poetry inherent in ordinary life.” She aims to memorialize “small” moments, when we are most present. Using simple imagery, such as a small patch of grass in a park, trees, birds, and domestic paraphernalia, Brody-Lederman reveals both psychological and graphic content. Snippets of text are incorporated into most of her paintings, driving the narrative. Words are distilled, and double entendres, both aural and visual, abound. The texts are non-linear, with roots in Beckett, Pinter, and Albee, as well as filmmakers such as Truffaut and Fellini. Erasure and re-writes are common.
Brody-Lederman’s surfaces are meant to evoke peeling walls of ancient cities and depict the passage of time. The mark of the hand, that “very beautiful awkwardness of our common humanity”, is the vehicle for lifting what Loftus refers to as, “the flimsy curtain that separates our imagination and our memory.”
For more information on the gallery and their artists please visit www.saranightingale.com
