Stephanie Law, “Liminal”
June 8th – July 7th, 2024
Opening Reception with the Artist: Saturday, June 8th, 6-8pm
Northport, NY– Haven Gallery is pleased to present “Liminal”, a solo exhibition of new work by California based artist Stephanie Law. “Liminal” is Law’s fourth solo show with the gallery and will include twenty five new watercolor paintings that blend the echelons of land, sea and sky. Cascades of water, air and earth harmoniously dance with color, and fluidity, illuminating the magic of life. Beings both corporeal yet ethereal, natural yet mythical, move to blended landscapes, creating their own ripples of reality.
Artist Statement
“Liminal” features new work by Oakland based artist, Stephanie Law, in her fourth solo show at Haven Gallery. Sea swirls with sky in waves that billow and shatter in stained-glass skies. The symbolic melds into reality as creatures of mythology wend through clouds and earth, and take form from shadows and trees.
The metaphors tucked into dream-like imagery come from an experience of inhabiting two spaces: the world of Law’s Chinese heritage, peeking into her life in celebrations and stories, in the acceptance of the mythical as aspects of reality, in the expectations of elders, and internalized expectations of identity; and the world she was born to as a second-generation American. The sense of being caught between spaces moves through the delicate watercolor paintings. Ripples interrupt woodland, and the inhabitants of the scenes traverse barriers and thresholds. They reach out and bridge disparate halves to create a choreographed whole in the form of moonlight, pearls, magpies, dragonflies, and bamboo.
Taking possession of the term “jook sing”, meaning “bamboo pole”, which is slang used by older generations to refer to immigrant descendants who have adopted Western cultural ideals, Law celebrates the strength and resilience of bamboo. The swaying stands arc gracefully into the wind and do not break, and they intersperse the paintings alongside the elegant twisted boughs of California live oaks and California poppies. “The Music of Hollow Reeds” is a reminder that though the stalks are hollow, it only means that the space can be filled with breath of life to create melody and magic.
ABOUT STEPHANIE LAW
Stephanie Law’s work is an exploration of mythology mixed with her personal symbolism. Her art journeys through surreal otherworlds, populated by dreamlike figures, masked creatures, and winged shadows. The fantastical permeates through the visions rich with a visual language of metaphor, and a sense that reality is grander, more beautiful, and more laden when viewed with a slower appreciation.
Archetypes, the basis for the universal appeal of mythological concepts, are one of the defining inspirations for her imagery. This is mingled with the movement of dance. Stephanie has been a dancer for almost two decades, and she uses that experience of how the human body moves and emotes to create a bridge into her artwork so that not only do the humans dance across the page, but the branches of her trees move with a sinuous grace, and the arrangement of inanimate elements has a choreographed rhythm and flow.
Growing up in California, Stephanie has been surrounded by the wealth of natural inspiration all around her. The twisting boughs of live oaks from the hills near her home insinuate themselves into her paintings. The chaos of Nature’s wild growth, and conversely the beauty of decay, echo in the textures and fractal patterns of her work.
Stephanie showcases her watercolor paintings in gallery exhibitions, and in published volumes. She is author of Undying Tales – Mythologies of Creatures on the Verge of Extinction, the Dreamscapes watercolor series, the Shadowscapes Tarot, and the Verdance Tarot, as well as being featured in games and children’s books. Her botanical art has been showcased in internationally juried exhibitions at botanical gardens and arboretums.
