Pareidolia: The tendency to see a specific, often meaningful image in random marks and visual patterns, i.e. imagining a face in the moon.

In Jaya Mansberger’s work the painted mark is given autonomy so that it seems to take on a dramatic significance or meaning. The brush strokes teeter between signalling some form of landscape or heavenly body and dissolving into abstraction. Her paintings do not reveal a definite form, but are open-ended, maintaining a sense of mystery.

The paintings in this exhibition also contain suggestions of art historical reference. For example, the lightness of touch and luminous light which characterizes eighteenth century Rocco paintings provides a rich source of inspiration for Jaya’s work. The flowing brushwork and overall sensual feel of her paintings recalls the playful eroticism of Fragonard. These hazily figurative oil pieces, which at times bring to mind images of light streaming through the parting of swirling clouds and mist, hint of Tiepolo-esque heavenly ascents.

Intimate and subtle, Jaya’s paintings operate on low-volume, drawing the viewer in to look closer. Both spontaneous and highly considered, the paintings contain a certain tension. They depict different states of being and different kinds of spaces that operate both visually and emotionally.

Thursday 6 July, 6-8pm, – Join us to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.