Lena Liv (b. 1953)

Lena Liv's works of art convey a timeless aspect that demands attention and absorption of her haunting imagery. Born in 1952, the Russian-Jewish emigré lives and works in Italy within a variety of media that extends from handmade paper to complex installations. The themes of her work dwell on the tension between remembrance and oblivion, which is keenly felt as the boy depicted in one of the present works seem to emerge from the darkness like a vision in a dream. The box-like frame of the work invites the viewer to closely observe the depicted figure, and to add further impact to the poignancy of the isolated boy, an actual play ball is nestled within the corner of the box. Liv invests in the dramatic combination of the two-dimensional image of the boy and the three-dimensional object which implicates the involvement of the viewer. The second present work is a beautifully rendered still life, encloaked in Liv's signature inky darkness. From it, humble objects emerge and take on a symbolic cast. "Liv thus builds up a fortress of silence, a free zone open only to shadows and to the illusions of consciousness and sight. The image becomes "other," indifferent to any hermeneutical attempt, emptied of meaning due to the excess of existential immanence, evoked between apparition and disappearance, between light and dark" (G. Serafini, Lena Liv: A Little Bit of Blue, Wiesbaden, Nassauischer Kunsteverin Wiesbaden, 2000, n.p.).