prose

Review of 2008 Art Show
by Phyllis Gibson, 2008

If structural forms in art are metaphors for the self, then Lois York's latest body of work examines both the self's outward appearances and its most private interior passages.

The abstract, acrylic-on-canvas paintings in York's current series are all highly architectural and deeply color-drenched, but each is unique in its emotional import. In some, her subjects take on an aura of sunny permanence. Others are drawn from a safe and distant perspective, like aerial views seen just as the details begin to fade and larger patterns become apparent.

Still others offer cloaked glimpses into compartments whose contents are mysterious, dark and veiled, or pour radiant light into rooms marked by splintered ruins. Finally, York examines sections of the past -- a clinical biopsy conducted under the microscope of the artist's eye -- unafraid to explore the fragile tissue of memories as they bleed and die.

Stasis and evolution ...
Burial and excavation ...
Demolition and construction ...
Exploration and withdrawal ...
Reduction and expansion ...

Each of these potent human themes has a place among the works in York's exhibition. And there is a place in each of us that responds to the heart's changing blueprint they outline.