David Ambarzumjan’s Paintings Traverse Time

The scenes in Mernet Larsen's paintings appear familiar, at times even mundane: doing yard work; sitting in a staff meeting; waiting on a subway platform. Yet running through these representations of daily modern life is a distorted sense of reality that suddenly leaves one struggling to find footing within these worlds. Larsen has been painting this way since the early 2000s, channeling both the geometric compositions of El Lissitzky and 12th century Japanese narrative paintings. At the center of her works are block-like characters resembling vintage graphics in an old computer game - both abstract and figurative representations of ordinary people. Applying concepts of reverse perspective and what the artist refers to as "Rorschaching" to insightful, often witty narratives, Larsen inspires us to reconsider the ways in which we relate to the world around us.