Marjorie Norman Schwarz: Stills
12.26
is pleased to present Stills,
Marjorie Norman Schwarz’ third exhibition with the gallery and her first
exhibition at our Los Angeles space.
For Schwarz, abstraction embodies a mode of making devoid of crutches; there is no life-like subject to convey, perspective to capture, nor light to mimic. There is no parachute for the artist to pull as they jump off the cliff into the depths of creation. In the realm of abstraction, one crafts their own visual lexicon and aims to transmit a specific feeling or sensation to the viewer.
In Stills, Schwarz diverges from her usual practice of forging her unique language and instead translates a pre-existing one. Figuration becomes a tool for reinterpretation, offering an individualized perspective on familiar scenes. Rather than replicating, imitating, or rendering these scenes as “life-like,” Schwarz uses these nine paintings as a chance to dissect the scene before her, exposing the array of challenges encountered in capturing each image.
The scenes depicted in Stills are drawn from various sources: pictures on Schwarz’s phone, polaroids scattered around her house, moments from a historic mansion, or coincidental interactions, like her cat perched on the window or a racoon who frolics on her porch every morning. There is no agenda for these animals, parks, or bars; no meaning to be pulled from the seemingly mundane. Stills encompasses a series of works that represent things as they are. These paintings exist in a place before something significant happens, or perhaps after. Before someone interrupts the cat, shoos away the raccoon, leaves their trash on the park bench, or gets up from the booth to grab a drink or shoot pool. Like Schwarz’s departure from abstraction, they offer the viewers a break, a resting place, a snapshot of what happens when we’re not there. Within these snapshots of life, everything sits still.
Marjorie Norman Schwarz earned her BFA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She has exhibited across the United States, with recent solo shows at Massey Klein in New York and SOCO Gallery in Charlotte. Additionally, her work has been featured in group exhibitions at The Valley Taos in New Mexico, the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, the University of Texas at Dallas’ SP/N Gallery and ArtSpace 64 in New York City, among others. Schwarz’s work is in the permanent collections of the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Dallas Museum of Art, and the artist has received recognition in print and online publications, including Patron, Athenaeum Review, Glasstire, and Dallas Morning News. The artist currently lives and works in Dallas, TX and is represented by 12.26.
For Schwarz, abstraction embodies a mode of making devoid of crutches; there is no life-like subject to convey, perspective to capture, nor light to mimic. There is no parachute for the artist to pull as they jump off the cliff into the depths of creation. In the realm of abstraction, one crafts their own visual lexicon and aims to transmit a specific feeling or sensation to the viewer.
In Stills, Schwarz diverges from her usual practice of forging her unique language and instead translates a pre-existing one. Figuration becomes a tool for reinterpretation, offering an individualized perspective on familiar scenes. Rather than replicating, imitating, or rendering these scenes as “life-like,” Schwarz uses these nine paintings as a chance to dissect the scene before her, exposing the array of challenges encountered in capturing each image.
The scenes depicted in Stills are drawn from various sources: pictures on Schwarz’s phone, polaroids scattered around her house, moments from a historic mansion, or coincidental interactions, like her cat perched on the window or a racoon who frolics on her porch every morning. There is no agenda for these animals, parks, or bars; no meaning to be pulled from the seemingly mundane. Stills encompasses a series of works that represent things as they are. These paintings exist in a place before something significant happens, or perhaps after. Before someone interrupts the cat, shoos away the raccoon, leaves their trash on the park bench, or gets up from the booth to grab a drink or shoot pool. Like Schwarz’s departure from abstraction, they offer the viewers a break, a resting place, a snapshot of what happens when we’re not there. Within these snapshots of life, everything sits still.
Marjorie Norman Schwarz earned her BFA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She has exhibited across the United States, with recent solo shows at Massey Klein in New York and SOCO Gallery in Charlotte. Additionally, her work has been featured in group exhibitions at The Valley Taos in New Mexico, the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, the University of Texas at Dallas’ SP/N Gallery and ArtSpace 64 in New York City, among others. Schwarz’s work is in the permanent collections of the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Dallas Museum of Art, and the artist has received recognition in print and online publications, including Patron, Athenaeum Review, Glasstire, and Dallas Morning News. The artist currently lives and works in Dallas, TX and is represented by 12.26.
