18 Mar 2020

Kyle Staver

Zürcher Gallery

Reviewed by Dana Gordon

Kyle Staver's new work is gloriously conceived, magnificently painted, and seriously fun. I can't remember a group of new paintings this thrilling. Inventive, pictorial fullness found in classic figurative art combines with a complete grasp of the abstract potentials of the rectangular picture plane. The most recent artist to do this as well was Picasso.

Her painterly handling and line have insouciant mastery. Color is uninhibited but just right. Light, often in the form of backlighting, filters through the scenes. Rich but airy paint pushes sensuously toward the viewer. The balance of expression and control in her works on paper amazes.

Staver depicts central narratives of the Western tradition - Ophelia in the garden, Medusa, Miss America riding a bull, Death and the Maiden, St. Sebastian, and the like. All the figures are female, looking rather like the artist herself. They do not always suffer their fates.