For Delphine Perlstein, the process of making paintings coincides with modes of contemplation, introspection, discovery, and reverie. She imbues her subjects with similar airs and sensibilities, and in turn, her subjects elicit the same from their viewers. With generally loose, lush brushwork, quiet palettes that become selectively vibrant, and a range of compositional depths, Perlstein creates abstractly figurative works full of emotion, drama, and mood. As the painter loses herself in her subjects, her subjects become caught up in similar modes and moments, and consequently come across as calmly, indulgently lost in their thoughts.

Through the works in Reflection, we see Perlstein delving deeply into this imaginative, emotive sphere to locate an array of curious protagonists, evocative spaces, and suggestive objects. Some of her paintings are portrait-like, while others are more akin to casual snapshots or playful Polaroids, and many of them register as tacitly, intimately narrative tableaux. Her subjects are mostly women, and most of them are portrayed alone; some of them are pensive sitters, others are shyly exhibitionist. Perlstein creates mood with color and brushy applications – striated greys, rich ivories, variable flesh tones, light lavenders, and deep mauves, with intermittent bursts of yellow, red, or green, and bright flashes of pink – and she creates mystery, drama, and imaginable narratives and dialogue with restrained interior or capacious exterior spaces, occasional close-ups, intervening objects, and sometimes interacting subjects. Her subjects are inward-looking, introspective, or they gaze beyond themselves and their surroundings, as if peering out windows, into other rooms, or directly at viewers. Some seem to be listlessly daydreaming, while others, sleeping, are likely dreaming.

In one manner or another, in one mode or another, the full cast of character

s in Reflection is readily reflective. Perlstein’s intriguing subjects, with their mysterious settings and quiet theatrics, encourage viewers to reflect alongside them.

– Paul D’Agostino

Perlstein’s Reflection will run concurrently with Viridis, a group exhibition in our project space with works by Cecilia Whittaker-Doe, Karrie Hovey, Dar James, Wendy Klemperer, Cathy Nan Quinlan,Claire McConaughy, Allison Meyer, Antoinette Wysocki, and Rachel Youens.