AIRPLANE presents a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Bushwick artist Liz Ainslie.

With this group of deceptively diverse works on panel and canvas, Ainslie challenges the perceptual assumptions that one may make when viewing a body of abstract paintings, such as the expected building of a larger context from the cumulative effect of repeatedly viewing structured shape, line, palette and texture constructed within a set of parameters. In her recent series Sticklines, the parameters seem clear:

In these paintings, lines are more like objects. I place them between things and they tend to divide, interrupt and only partially outline other forms. The lines get in the way, but that’s what makes it interesting for me.

In Ainslie’s paintings, illusionistic elements such as perspective, figure/ground tension and light/shadow relate indirectly to their sources in objects and spaces. Her process of deliberately diffusing an illusionistic sense of space creates compelling perceptual shifts between flatness/design and scenic narrative. The context changes from piece to piece, as each painting exists within and relates to its own intuitive visual system. She has stated:

I want my subjects to be ambiguous enough so that the references are not illustrations, but proxies that can move in and out of contexts…I want to hold onto the moment when my senses somehow deceive me. When I paint, I create systems detached from my normal experience in order to reference these moments.

Abstraction is literally a conceptual process, and a perceptible specificity of process can assist in verifying a viewer’s experience of abstract artwork. With Ainslie’s paintings, this set-up of specificity deliberately allows for an open and intuitive investigation into what it means to make and ultimately to experience an abstract painting.

Opening party May 5th, 7-9 pm. show runs through May 20 Show will be on view Sundays, 12-6, and Saturday, May 19th, and by appointment (please call 646.345.9394 to arrange) (gallery will be closed Sun May 20th for a private event)