Contributed by Sharon Butler / Elizabeth Hazan’s earlier paintings were highly resolved meditations on Google map imagery and aerial landscape views of Long Island’s east end. The terrific new work, recently on display at Johnannes Vogt in a solo show called “Heat Wave,” is moving into a less certain, but, for me, more satisfying state of upheaval and irresolution. Farther removed from physical description, the saturated color and busy linework have moved beyond the map to a realm that paradoxically seems more urgent with respect to the world we live in.
For years, landscape painters whose primary currency is beauty have been relegated to back rooms and project spaces. Now, with the climate crisis upon us, the genre has acquired new gravity. Landscapes have moved past personal metaphor to documentation and a global call to action. But for Hazan the project has always been personal. According to the artist, the paintings in “Heat Wave” are a mirage of memories … a subtle and pensive look at the passage of time and the nostalgia for a place that will never exist again. Indeed, as we watch the wild fires burning uncontrolled throughout California, the rapid rate of extinction, the melting of the polar ice caps, and more, most of us can appreciate and lament that state of affairs.
Memories are, by nature, uncertain and to an extent unstable. The new paintings, with their meandering brush work, shifting spatial planes, and loose pools of pigment, masterfully convey the heartache of ambiguity and not knowing.
About the artist (from the gallery website): Elizabeth Hazan has studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the New York Studio School and Bryn Mawr College. In addition to her own artistic practice, Hazan founded Platform Project Space, dedicated to showcasing the work of fellow artists. Her works have been shown in exhibitions at Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA: National Arts Club, New York, NY; LABspace, Hillsdale, NY; Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY; and Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
“Elizabeth Hazan: Heat Wave,” Johannes Vogt, 958 Madison Ave., New York, NY. September 5 to October 5, 2019.
NOTE: Today is also the third day of the 2019 Two Coats of Paint year-end fundraising campaign. This year we’re requesting funding to continue our work supporting artists and arts organizations through 2020. You might think of your contribution as an annual subscription. We hope to generate enough revenue to offset rising costs for web hosting, design, the newsletter, and editorial help, and also to compensate our contributors for more fine pieces. If you value what we do at Two Coats of Paint, please consider supporting us for another year. New limited-edition canvas tote bags are being screen-printed and will be given to the first 100 readers to contribute $150 or more. Thanks to readers who have already contributed, and thanks in advance for YOUR generous tax-deductible contribution –> Please click here to contribute.
“Elizabeth Hazan: Heat Wave,” Johannes Vogt, 958 Madison Ave., New York, NY. September 5 to October 5, 2019.
NOTE: Today is also the third day of the 2019 Two Coats of Paint year-end fundraising campaign. This year we’re requesting funding to continue our work supporting artists and arts organizations through 2020. You might think of your contribution as an annual subscription. We hope to generate enough revenue to offset rising costs for web hosting, design, the newsletter, and editorial help, and also to compensate our contributors for more fine pieces. If you value what we do at Two Coats of Paint, please consider supporting us for another year. New limited-edition canvas tote bags are being screen-printed and will be given to the first 100 readers to contribute $150 or more. Thanks to readers who have already contributed, and thanks in advance for YOUR generous tax-deductible contribution –> Please click here to contribute.
Related posts:
Studio visit: Elizabeth Hazan in DUMBO
Elizabeth Hazan: A drawing’s path
Catherine Howe: Sly virtuosity
Sharon, you say �For years, landscape painters whose primary currency is beauty…�
I have to disagree.
Landscape painting, as seen from my perspective as an English artist steeped in the landscape painting tradition, is concerned with the emotional expression of light, horizon and space. It is what light and a sense of space can convey. The essence of, for example, Turner, Constable, Hockney, Hodgkin or John Virtue�s landscapes are about light, space and the emotion that the interaction of those can convey.
Yes, Hodgkin would never have considered himself a landscape painter, but his work was always about a sense of place and often also about weather.
I sincerely believe this is their prime objective. To engender emotional resonance through visual description, metaphor and reference.
Beauty as a word is not helpful as a far as I am concerned. It�s a generalisation according to who judges what beauty is or is not. It never gets to grip with what�s really going on.
Otherwise, I sure do enjoy Two Coats of Paint�s website, suggestions and updates.
Best,
Chris Heape.
Strangely alluring, such a vivid interpretation of an ariel cityscape. I would not have ever guessed that would be the source of this work but when I take a moment to really reflect on it, the lines and spacing along with the geometric elements, it makes sense.