Berggruen Gallery is pleased to present Isca Greenfield-Sanders: Let’s Be Still, an exhibition of recent paintings and works on paper by American artist Isca Greenfield-Sanders. This show marks Greenfield-Sanders’ sixth solo exhibition with the gallery. The show will be on view from November 18 through December 23, 2021. The gallery will host an opening reception on Thursday, November 18, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
The title of Greenfield-Sanders most recent body of work, Let's Be Still, alludes to the artist’s longtime fascination and practice of working with found photographic slides from the 1950 to1960s. 'Let's Be Still' recalls the moment a camera decisively captures life in motion — it's phrasing a reflection upon the swift cadence of the medium. Greenfield-Sanders chooses to slow her found imagery down, first by reinterpreting the slides into watercolor studies, then monumentalizing their existence into larger scale oil paintings, pulling the scenes further from their photographic origins at each medium change. Her stepped approach to a multi-media process questions the truthfulness of photography and the haziness of our own recollections. Let's Be Still also gives a name to the calming presence found throughout the body of work. Seen through the beachgrass, the far groups of people in Silver Beach lounge along the water’s edge in their serene environment. The artist expresses that she often gleans much inspiration from one photographic scene, allowing numerous watercolor and oil works to stem from a single slide. With a deep appreciation for stillness comes an understanding of its fleeting nature. Greenfield-Sanders’ figurative landscapes exude the temporal knowledge that the tides will ebb and flow, the light will alter, and nearby boats will continue to pass by.
Greenfield-Sanders’ work flickers with familiarity. At moments her seaside scenes and figurative landscapes are approximations of her own memories, yet broadly stem from their anonymous origins. The nameless, distant people in No Name Beach ground the scene as recognizable yet belong to the landscape. Their muted tones displayed against the ascending bands of blues, assure us that her characters are moving within a greater natural setting. In addition to Greenfield-Sanders’ blue and purple beachscapes, the Wildflowers works venture into a newer color palette. Set with hilly greens, the artist creates blooming fields with the brightest natural tones. Throughout Let's Be Still the humble presence of the artist’s figures allows for nostalgia to arise and our own visual histories to interject. Greenfield-Sanders asks what moments are worthy of stillness and how we might choose to monumentalize our own time.
Isca Greenfield-Sanders was born in New York City in 1978. She holds a dual degree in mathematics and visual arts from Brown University. She has had numerous solo exhibitions throughout Europe and the United States, including a solo museum exhibition in 2010 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver. Greenfield-Sanders’ work is in the collection of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; the USA Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany; the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; The Estée Lauder Corporation, New York, NY; and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. She has been the subject of articles in several publications, including Artforum, ARTnews, Artnet Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair. She lives and works in New York City.
Isca Greenfield-Sanders: Let’s Be Still, November 18 – December 23, 2021. On view at 10 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Images and previews are available upon request. For all inquiries, please contact the gallery by phone (415) 781- 4629 or by email info@berggruen.com.