Elizabeth Barlow Artist

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"