Excerpts from the press release from Anya Spielman’s most recent Solo Exhibition, “Stung,” at Michael Rosenthal Contemporary Art:

Critics have called Anya Spielman a “painter’s painter,” “a superb colorist,” and “a macho painter.”

Ted Mooney, Senior Editor of Art in America says of Spielman’s work: "Anya Spielman's mastery of her invariably appealing palette can be deceptive: she knows the depths of human motive and does not hesitate to take the viewer to places both more ambiguous and darker than may at first seem evident. What's more, it may take you some time to figure out how you got there, let alone how to get back. But that, after all, is what serious painting is all about."

As Mooney states, there exists a complex duality to Spielman’s work: it is both intensely physical with elements of violence while hyperconscious of the beauty and evanescence of life. The result is work that is expressionistic and yet operates within a framework of restraint.  The saturated color of the canvases and works on paper are juicy and sensual, yet there is something disturbing in their beauty.  Spielman’s surfaces are extraordinary, gorgeously layered, yet upon close study, rough nail marks scar the paint and deconstruct the work. Above all, there is a strong sense of mystery in Spielman’s work – she reminds viewers who are brave enough to keep looking of the tenuous balance between knowing and not knowing.

The work exhibited in “Stung” plumbs the constellation of illness and the pathology of beauty.  We are stung by chance, by what cards we are dealt, these paintings say, but they also remind us that we can be stopped in our tracks by the astounding beauty of the natural world. The work “Disease” reflects two vague head-like silhouettes in the upper center of painting – a red cluster hovers above (conjuring both blossoms and clotted blood), while a black band and dark streaks reminiscent of arteries intimate something more gruesome. Spielman presents the silhouettes and poses impossible questions: “What are the forces behind health and illness? Why are some people struck with disease and others evade it entirely? What is the nature of chance?”

Much of the work is sexual– some of it veiled, some explicit, but, as with all of Spielman’s work, her paintings bear a dual meaning. In the painting “Sugarbush,” for example, the shower of white smudges can look like falling petals, a first snowfall, or ejaculation. And the main object in “Things to Suck,” resembles a lollipop, however, suspended testicles loom overhead. The juxtaposition hints at two separate realms of experience, while also displaying Spielman’s bold and mischievous sense of humor.

More information about Anya's work:

Art in Embassies - U.S. Department of State

Bowery Artists Tribute Web site
Artists Listing