Liz Rundorff Smith: Good Bones
Artist Focus
NYC
In this Artist Focus presentation, SEFA debuts a series of work on paper by Liz Rundorff Smith entitled "Good Bones." The artist renders sketchy outlines that hint at architectural structures and features including doors, windows and stairs. These "bones" float through colorful, abstract backgrounds. The lyrically applied hues surround or contain, interrupt or envelope, obscure or enliven the aforementioned ghostly forms—their intention dependent upon the viewer's nuanced interpretations.
Rundorff Smith uses acrylic paint and graphite to create these expressive works, a rare series on Yupo paper. The artist meditates on the constant weight of caretaking, specifically motherhood, and seeks to memorialize its invisible invisible force, its silent labor. The moniker “Good Bones” references a recent period when the artist was recovering from knee surgery and the fragility she felt now needing care. This role shift is reflected by the ever-changing relationships with her two daughters as they all grow older. In this new presentation, Rundorff Smith confronts vulnerable, emotional experiences. Employing concise titles such as Echo, Atrophy, Erosion and Ossuary—she explores how to make the intangible visible via evocative abstraction.
Rundorff Smith writes: “It’s an odd challenge to try to fit the visceral remnants of a messy life into a fixed structure. There is an impermanence in living and an evolving understanding of fragility that monoliths made of solid, unbreakable material leave out. A structure that doesn’t bend doesn’t allow for questioning or reconciliation. A monument reflecting a singular narrative omits the opportunity for communal participation. It seems paradoxical, but the deeper I dig into the fleshy underbelly of my private life, the closer I get to a universal human connection. What is intimately private becomes the framework upon which my public-facing work is built and experienced.”
