Art Silicon Valley/SF is produced by Art Miami and I'm thrilled that my work will be presented there this week by Gallerie Citi -- Oct. 8-11.  It's an exciting showcase for contemporary art from around the world -- and I can't wait to see what wonders I will find there....

 I will be unveiling my newest "portraits in absentia" -- these paintings are "portraits" using belongings (clothing) rather than faces or figures to describe people's lives.   I believe that our clothing retains the shape of our essences and leaves behind a symbolic trace of our selves and our stories.

"Spooned," oil on linen, 24 x 36"

"Pas de Deux", oil on linen, 20 x 30"

I could have stayed all night!  I am usually so nervous for the opening of an exhibition -- it's like being an actor before the curtain rises on opening night -- wishing I were anyplace ELSE.  But for the first time EVER, I was excited for the opening of "REAL: Elizabeth Barlow and Willard Dixon" at Gallerie Citi.  Maybe I have a few enough of these openings under my belt by now?  Or maybe I am just so proud of this new work and wanted to share it with my friends and collectors.  It was truly a pleasure to see familiar faces and be able to show them what I've been working on for the past 8 months.

It was also such a privilege to share the exhibition with Willard Dixon.  He is a noted Bay Area artist, who paints beautifully in every genre -- landscape, figurative and still life.  In this exhibition, he is sharing some of his new trompe l'oeil paintings -- they are astonishingly "real" -- but still retain an other worldly air found in most of his work.

"REAL", at Gallerie Citi, 1115 Howard Avenue, Burlingame, CA, until November 6, 2015.
www.gallerieciti.com

This is another new painting waiting to be revealed at the Opening Reception of REAL -- a two person exhibition with Willard Dixon and myself at Gallerie Citi -- September 19, from 5-7pm.  The exhibition runs through November 6. 

"Yin/Yang," Oil on Linen, 24 x 30 

For several years now I have been working to entwine the traditions of still life painting and portraiture.  I call these paintings "portraits in absentia."  I use people's belongings, most recently their shoes, as stand-ins for their visages or bodies, to create "portraits" that illustrate their lives and stories.

On September 19 at Gallerie Citi I will unveil a new evolution of these "potraits in absentia."  In these new paintings I am using the "uniforms" that many of us have in our closets -- jeans and white shirts.  These uniforms are ubiquitous in our society, yet they are highly personal.   A pair of jeans or a white shirt is a form of cultural anthropology -- a piece of archeology from our time -- but each garment also retains the very real essence of the person who wears it.

My new series will be shown at Gallerie Citi in Silicon Valley (Burlingame, CA) in the two-person exhibition REAL (which I will share with the extraordinary Willard Dixon), from September 19 -- November 6.  There is an opening reception on September 19 from 5-7pm -- please come if you can!

Here is a peek at one of the new works.  It is a "portrait" of a couple and it illumines their love story and their zest for living.

"Embrace," oil on linen, 24 x 36"

I married my wonderful husband nine years ago this summer.  He has been a joy and a gift to my life in countless ways -- and so has the privilege of honoring our partnership in a marriage.   And now, many of our dearest friends will also have the right and privilege of celebrating their unions in legal marriages.  I believe in the privilege of marriage so deeply that I've created several paintings over the years illustrating marriage in its various forms.  Here are a few of these paintings -- in support and celebration of the institution of marriage.

"Portrait of Sally and Donald"
Oil on Linen
25 x 25"

"Portrait of a Marriage"
Oil on Linen
18 x 24"

"Portrait of a Marriage"
Oil on Linen
12 x 12"

"Portrait of a Modern Family"
Oil on Linen
22 x 28"

I've been reading a monograph on the amazing realist artist Alan Magee.   I love his work and how deeply he reveals the essence of an object.   He writes "the beauty of a thing reveals itself with attention."

I have always felt this way about my own painting.  I relish the long hours of deeply looking at the curve of an object, or the many colors in a shadow.  And with all the hours, days, and weeks of looking, I feel that I get a little closer to the "unseen" that is always present in our lives.

                                          "At the Chelsea Flower Show (Begonia)"

                                           Oil on Linen

                                            20 x 20"

                                           By Elizabeth Barlow

                                           

On April 17 we attended the opening night of my father's (Philip Barlow) new exhibition at Phillips Gallery in Salt Lake City.  He keeps getting better and better in his technique and artistry.  So that must mean that 82 is the new 62!  I'm so proud to be his child and to have inherited a small portion of his amazing talent.  Thanks for sharing so much beauty and wonder with the world, Dad!

"Sharing the Real Thing"

by Philip Barlow

16 x 20"

Oil on Canvas 

"Lost and Found"

18 x 24"

Oil on Canvas

"Three Guesses"

16 x 20"

Oil on Canvas