Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1510511
18 WAC Magazine | wac.net first take grand staircase gallery Shape and color collide Carole Landisman's introspective collection will alter your gaze By Mae Jacobson Form dances with delicate colorways in artist Carole Landisman's quietly dynamic canvases. Slated to appear in the Grand Staircase Gallery beginning in November, Landisman's collection entitled "Folding In" features a series of paintings created during the early days of the pandemic. As Landisman felt herself turning inward, her art reflected the deep intro- spection and isolation she experienced during quarantine. e art this period inspired is quite literally reflective— Landisman uses color-shiing pigment that imparts an amazing depth of quality to her work. Take in the deep shine and mesmer- izing magenta of "Tope-in-a-Tope" or the transparent gleam of a gold rect- angle in "Mutable Invasion" and you'll see living, breathing design that moves with sunlight and space. ere's also a profound sense of layering at play, a feeling closely linked to the act of quiet, internal thought. e diaphanous layers of "Hydranx 3.1"—in which you can gaze through paper-thin coats of purple, grey, and green paint—draw the viewer further into the piece while also urging you to withdraw into the layers of your own psyche. As a former Harvard mathematician, Landisman says her work is oen closely linked to science and abstract concepts developed during research. is past-life still influences her full-time work as an artist and is a theme she plans to pursue, especially during her recent late-summer artist residency in Paris. "I have found a particular thread that is fairly math-based," Landisman says about future work. "ey are projections on four-dimensional cubes that I'll paint with color shiing pigments. It's about aspects of dimensionality and images that shi over the course of the day. It's all a greater metaphor for time." Take some time out of your day for a walk through the Grand Staircase Gal- lery. You'll be happy you bore witness to the beauty of Landisman's paintings and the complexity of your own inner and outer worlds. u Carole Landisman's "Tope-in-a-Tope" (top) and "Convex Hull" (bottom right) are two of the artist's works on display in the Grand Staircase Gallery. Bottom left: Landisman poses in front of one of her pieces. C O U R T E S Y I M A G E S