Using fine brushstrokes that nearly mimic a charcoal drawing, Isabel Olivares creates what appears to be a representation of a torn black and white photograph. But “Autumn,” her depiction of a woman vaguely staring at us, is a mysterious oil on wood panel. Her hair wisps over her eyelashes drawing us in to wonder—maybe even lust. “This piece represents a dialog with the future or present self in the autumn of life,” said Olivares. “It is said that a photograph steals a moment in time and yet it can also be a window that unlocks all the memories that bring back the battles that makes us whom we became or failed to become.”
Olivares is just one of the women exhibiting in the third installment of Women Painting Women at RJD Gallery in Sag Harbor. It’s an extension of an online collective of the same name that was established in 2009 by artists Alia El-Bermani, Diane Feissel and Sadie Valeri. Deborah Chapin’s “Invincible” (oil on linen) will be among the works hanging at RJD. A young redheaded woman appears to be either submerged in water or reflected in it upside down. Beneath the water’s surface, she’s clear and calm. Above it, a swirling, reflected image of wild red hair. The cool, clear water shimmers all around her and we’re not sure if she’s floating or drowning. Despite this situation, she seems confident, even quietly defiant. “Water allows the viewer to transition between the real world and the surreal easily, so the models and I can create surreal environments or movements within reality.”
