
“Begotten, Not Made”
Nicola Samori
Ana Cristea Gallery, 521 W26th St., NYC
More than a trick of the eye, Samori’s paintings treat their surface as a material skin transcribing the memory of their process. “Like the eye adjusting to darkness, adaptation is necessary upon entering Samori’s visual cosmos. The images stare at us in an effort of denied vision. With the icy gaze of a femme fatale warning us that she is beyond our reach, they block our penetration. The images feel us, smell us, judge us. They are watching, but they don’t see. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. And we see through a glass, darkly. Sometimes peering in, other times peeling back in search of the surface beneath the surface beneath the surface.”
Via: NYC Art Scene