BMG first look
The Brodsky Sisters
Dina Brodsky: The Secret Life of Trees | Maya Brodsky: Behind Closed Doors
8 September – 1 October 2016
Reception: Thursday, 8 September, 5 – 7pm
Bernarducci Meisel Gallery is pleased to present a two person exhibition entitled The Brodsky Sisters as part of the BMG First Look series. The exhibition will included works by sisters Dina and Maya Brodsky. Dina Brodsky will present over 150 drawings from her series entitled Secret Life of Trees. Maya Brodsky’s contribution to the exhibition,Behind Closed Doors, will include nearly a dozen new paintings of dramatically lit domestic interiors. This will be the first two person exhibition for these sisters in New York City.
In a letter dated August 23, 1799 to Dr. Trusler, the British poet and painter William Blake writes; “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.” Over two hundred years later, the statement impacted Dina Brodsky to reach out to her community of friends, family, and acquaintances to submit images of trees and their stories. She aimed to draw one tree per day for the duration of a year.
The result is over 150 drawings of trees, some solitary, some in pairs. Some are intricately rendered in ink on paper, some are on handmade paper, and others are even accented by oil paint. Each tree has its own individual story. Tree No. 80 is one of the largest in the series measuring 11 x 8 ½ inches. The branches of this tree are meticulously mapped by the artist using a ballpoint pen.A halo of light blue oil paint depicting skylight permeates behind the branches. The brown color of the paper is ironically the tree bark itself.
Brodsky’sTree #83 is Methuselah, a Swedish tree that is rumored to be the oldest in the world as it celebrates its 4,848th birthday. The complex topography, nooks, crannies of birches, pines, elms, oaks, and many other trees are mapped by Brodsky in this series aiming to develop a social symbiosis of combined memory and experiences.
Dina Brodsky lives and works in New York, NY. She holds an MFA from the New York Academy of Art and a BFA from University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She has exhibited in notable group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States including Small Worlds at the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA) and Animal Heart at the Slater Museum (Norwich, CT). In 2013 she had a solo exhibition at the notorious Micro Museum (Boston, MA) entitled Desert Places.
Maya Brodsky’s part of the exhibition entitledBehind Closed Doors includes intimately sized paintings of interiors. Oftentimes the setting is the living room of the artist’s apartment.She uses the visual language of 17th Century Dutch painters like Johannes Vermeer and Early Netherlandish painters like Jan Van Eyck to document contemporary moments.
In Mirror (2016) the artist is standing in the position of the viewer and her reflection is apparent in the full length mirror on the far wall of the room. There is a narrative that is implied by the objects on her coffee table; an empty mug, a partially full glass, an anchor paperweight, a bowl of yogurt and honey, and an empty bowl. There is also some mail, a coaster, plants in various states of wilting, and a beer bottle. Sunlight dances over these objects in a way only previously mastered by Vermeer. The coffee table, foreshortened, enters the composition from the lower left corner but appears to be in the center of the room. It rests on a blue Persian rug, rendered in detail reminiscent of the Van Eyck’s small paintings, opposite a couch with a loose green cover.
The wall with the mirror yields to two doors. One opens up into the bedroom, we can only see that the early morning light comes in from the east. We quickly position the artist and viewer on the south, the mirror and the artist’s reflection on the north side and the couch on the east side. The light passes through the glass not casting a shadow on the coffee table, but does not pass through the ceramic bowls, casting a shadow from them. In the mirror we see a reflection of the coffee table and that there is sunlight under it as well. Maya Brodsky’s palate appears to be confined to grays, blues, and muted tones but is highlighted by her expert mastering of light.
Maya Brodsky, like her sister was born in Minsk, Belarus, but lives and works in Cambridge, MA. She holds an MFA from the National Academy of Art and BFA and BA in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her work has been included in many notable group exhibitions and was recently on view in her solo exhibition entitled Awake at the University Of Maine Museum Of Art (Bangor, ME).
For more information contact Marina Press at (212) 593-3757 or marina@meiselgallery.com.
