Linnea Paskow, “Ocean”, 2002-2022, Oil, 5 x 4 inches
A New York Artists Equity Back Office Exhibition
Equity Gallery is pleased to present “Tides,” a back office exclusive exhibition featuring small works by Linnea Paskow. Starting in 2002 and completing in 2020, Paskow’s series of paintings commemorate 18 years’ worth of outings to Brighton Beach, a popular summertime destination in Brooklyn. Part impromptu polaroid snap-shots, part expressionistic plein-air painted sketches, this collection of work presents different decontextualized vignettes from carefree, lazy vacation days and beach retreats. They capture the intimate rituals and sights associated with these brief moments of reprieve, ranging from contemplative coast-side walks, vistas of weathered boardwalks, to overstimulated children in action, casual gatherings, and questionable decisions fueled primarily by cheap light beer.
Paskow depicts these scenes as displaced from a specific time and place, yet rife with details. Human bodies are flattened pops of color among the beachside locales, becoming part of the seascape. Memories meld together and are compressed. Sensory aspects are heightened and made physical — atmosphere and surf are made viscous and heavy, just as present as the figures. The surrounding environments are manifested in the paintings as nebulous and fluid, defying gravity and flooding into every open negative space. The scenery clings to the human subjects, evoking sea salt sticking to sunscreen-smeared skin and palpable, humid air ladened with brine, smoke, and sweat. The vivid, somewhat surreal unreality present in the very nature of memories — particularly within highlighted, pleasurable memories — is brought to the forefront within Paskow’s paintings.