Exposure 2017

Elisheva Biernoff made this small painting, titled "Exposure," using oil on board. The earthy, muted tones create a sense of distance, as though looking at a faded photograph. I love the way Biernoff embraces the fluidity of paint. The subject is a man in military fatigues in a dense, jungle-like setting, and this is rendered with these washes and delicate brushstrokes. Look closely, and you can see how the paint is applied thinly, almost like a glaze, allowing the texture of the board to peek through. I find the way the artist captures light filtering through the leaves particularly compelling. The contrast between the illuminated areas and the deep shadows creates a palpable sense of atmosphere. Biernoff's work reminds me a bit of Gerhard Richter's blurred photographs, in that they both play with memory and representation. Like Richter, she seems interested in how paintings can embrace ambiguity rather than fixed meaning.