Otherwordly by Lorella Paleni

Paleni’s painting seeks to capture the ever-changing energy of being. Her works can be seen, simultaneously, as both abstract and figurative. Her lushly colored surfaces compose dream-like imageries. Rendered vegetation or furry beasts dissolve into charged brushstrokes. A shapely leg is a mere silhouette that opens into another world. Pattern and splatter pushes and pulls the eye. What seems, on first glance, to be a type of contemporary surrealism is, on closer inspection, shot through with quotidian glimpses. Paleni’s work offers us an otherworldly visual feast.

Lorella Paleni. Welling, 2015. Acrylic and oil on canvas; 59 x 79 in. Courtesy the artist.​​​​​​​

Presented by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in collaboration with The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University.