The title Entropvisions is in homage to my mother, the poet and art critic, Harriet Zinnes. In 1990 New Directions published a collection of her poems titled Entropisms, a word she made-up combining entropy - the tendency toward disorder - and tropism - the growth towards or away from a stimulus. Similarly, my short reviews combine entropy and tropism by suggesting growth towards a vision of art from the chaos of the art world. Through the back door, my title also pays homage to my physicist father, Irving Zinnes, whose long discussions with my mom got her thinking about entropy and tropism in the first place.
Susan Lichtman at Steven Harvey
2024.5.4
Sometimes an intimate painting made monumental is just what we need, and so it is a pleasure to see the exhibition of large, wall-size paintings by Susan Lichtman now hanging at Steven Harvey, through May 25. Painting memories of friends and family at her home, with a light and color that both describe reality and evoke nostalgia, Lichtman has created spaces we can quietly explore and actively ponder. Though we feel her presence within each scene, we also feel a distance, a light that seems to hover, creating a filter away from the clarity of here and now, and into the world of recollection and imagination. The nods to Fairfield Porter and Vuillard of these paintings are deceptive, as Lichtman is courageous and inventive, creating shadow and light shapes that, though appearing to have actual physical sources, more accurately create veils under which the thoughts of her characters hide. Sudden scale shifts displace space and time, collaging together disparate moments with questions as to just what is going on. Do we see the same person twice, perhaps in the present and past, or are we looking at a simple recollection of a single event? Is the whole scene actually a fantasy? Lichtman is a dreaming colorist, where subtle color relationships navigate us through the canvas, creating a hierarchy of focus and a symphony of movement. These are smart paintings, made by someone who knows color theory, understands light, conceptualizes the complexity of space, and with all these tools, creates sensitive, and personal paintings that demonstrate how moving solid painting can be. At 11am today, Saturday, May 4, on ZOOM, Susan Lichtman and Robin Feuer Miller will talk together about literature and painting. Please contact the gallery to register. To see all photos, as well as past reviews, go to Instagram link in bio at @entropvisions or www.alicezinnes.com/entropvisions--blog-