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Noften dreamlike scenarios, they illuminate the world
through Caimi’s gaze. “When I painted Scapegoat,
I was in a place of feverishly trying to take my place
in my own life without fear of blame for my efforts.
As with most of my paintings, the ideas for the works
come from a deeper and more personal place, and
if I’m lucky, the work resonates with the deeper
and more personal places in others. I censored the
figure to illustrate just how silly we are for blocking
parts of the human body to ‘protect it,’” says Caimi.
In Scapegoat, a woman unashamedly faces toward
us, her shoulders set back and her posture straight.
“Women experience a higher percentage of body
censorship and, ironically, we also are more likely to
have our bodies singularly objectified, and aggres-
sively so,” Caimi continues. “Yet, throughout the ages
of oppression, silencing, being deeply and biblically
blamed for the state of humanity, enduring body
shame for not meeting the standards of the optical
pleasure of others, women have risen, bore children,
comforted, healed, forgiven and persevered. This
painting is an anthem of resolute and stubborn
‘being-ness.’”
Queen of the Forest by Konczyk also employs a sense
of surrealism. Riddled with metaphor, the piece depicts
disembodied hands, heads and eyes, which are attached
to vines that appear as though they’re spying on the
subject. “I just feel like this is a portrait of a woman,
a mother, a career person, a wife”, says Eliasi, “being
pulled in all different directions, judged by different
people...This is how it reads to me, and I find it to be
very powerful in that way.”
Residing in the Netherlands is Francien Krieg,
who is known for celebrating the older woman. Eliasi
explains that the artist recently completed a series
called Precious Bodies, which explores this very
subject. “Older females are really not something you
see discussed as beautiful, but they are,” says Eliasi.
She elaborates on her vision for the exhibition as a
whole, “I wanted to show art from the female perspec-
tive, by a female hand, which looks different than when
a man looks at a woman. He isn’t seeing what she sees.”
In total, there will be around 80 pieces exhibited in
a 1,300-square-foot gallery space. Eliasi says she hopes
two things happen for viewers when experiencing the
show: one, that they’ll find themselves awestruck at
just how many pieces are packed into this relatively
small space, and two, “That they’ll see that every one
of them is by a female artist. From conception to
fruition. The realization that most exhibits you see
are all men, and that these women for the most part
have not been shown on this elevated platform,” says
Eliasi. “The overall effect is going to be something
really great.”THE UNSEEN
When: March 4-31, 2020
Where: Stone Sparrow NYC, 45 Greenwich Avenue, New York, NY 10014
Information: (646) 449-8004, http://www.stonesparrownyc.com4
Dorielle Caimi,
Scapegoat, oil on canvas,
60 x 40"5
Shana Levenson, Burst,
oil on dibond, 20 x 16"6
Teagan McLarnan,
Becoming Mother,
egg tempera on
panel, 39 x 27"5 6