Tabitha Vevers, BREAKFAST IN FUR, Variable Tempo II (after Meret Oppenheim + Man Ray), c. 2015, Oil on ivorine with metronome and fur, 9.5 x 6 x 6 inches.
Tabitha Vevers: Eye To Eye
Eyesee, Hudson, NY (in association with Bookstein Projects)
September 14, 2024 - TBD
Tabitha Vevers Artist Statement
Presenting a show at ArtSee inspired me to pair my well-known Lover’s Eyes, with other less known eye-related works for the first time, including The Monk’s Vision and the Corona paintings. The tradition of commissioning eye portraits as gifts for secret lovers (recently popularized by the television drama, Bridgerton) dates back two centuries to the Georgian period. I began the series in 2000 with the eye of Victorine Meurent from Manet’s Olympia, reversing the gaze from the artist’s eye to that of the model. I have since appropriated eyes from throughout art history, with The Gaze of Desire celebrating men gazing at men, and the final series Selfies in which the artists gaze at us through time, rather than at themselves, leaving me feeling very closely observed in my studio!
I painted the Lover’s Eyes in oil on Ivorine, slowly building up translucent layers of color brushstroke by brushstroke. Ivorine, an early substitute for ivory, has a remarkable glow all its own, giving the paintings a flesh-like radiance. I mounted the early works in locket frames evoking the original
eye portraits. Later, I began painting each eye leaving a small border of bare Ivorine exposed, emphasizing the deliberateness of the cropping, and mounted them on contemporary white panels.
Other works include Object: Breakfast in Fur, Variable Tempo II, done in the midst of my Picasso + Man Ray Lover’s Eyes, which conflates Man Ray’s metronome with Meret Oppenheim’s indelible fur-lined teacup. The Monk’s Vision merges gold-encrusted portrait sculptures of monks wearing glasses, observed during travels in Southeast Asia, with a realization about the lack of affordable eye-care in many parts of the world. And finally, the mandala-like Corona paintings, done during the pandemic, were an attempt to create a connection with the viewer, eye to eye, while, by virtue of a visual phenomenon called the Troxler Effect, everything else fades from view.
Eyesee
529 Warren St, Hudson, NY 12534
+1.212.227.2400
vision@artseehudson.com
artseehudson.com