LORRAINE SHEMESH | LOLLIPOPS (BIG SUCKERS)

Shemesh’s masterly drawings and paintings memorialize the ephemeral to create something lasting. In her early drawings, food and everyday objects are reverentially depicted in detailed splendor, alluding to the pleasure of excess. These early works lay the groundwork for her later paintings of swimmers, a restrained yet powerful series which captures the nuanced portrayal of bodies underwater through expressionist brushstrokes and rich layers. In Shemesh’s work, life is displayed as spirited, dynamic and open-ended – a pervasive sensibility throughout the Allan Stone Collection, where she had numerous exhibitions over almost four decades. Shemesh has exhibited at The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Frye Art Museum, Seattle; The National Academy Museum, New York; Akron Art Museum; Nasher Museum of Art, Durham; De Cordova Museum, Lincoln; Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; and Museum of The City of New York, among others. Lorraine Shemesh is a member of the National Academy of Design in New York City, a two-time Watershed Residency recipient and a Yaddo Fellowship recipient.