Join us to celebrate the launch of Shirley Irons's new book Composition. This two-volume publication brings together an overview of the artist’s paintings to date, alongside multifaceted reflections on art, artmaking, and landscape through a selection of her short essays and stories.
RSVP here
Wednesday 26 June
18:00 – 20:00 EDT
Magenta Plains
149 Canal Street,
New York, NY 10002
About Composition
Shirley Irons’s subtle oil paintings of landscape fragments and urban interiors are based on photographs taken as she moves through the world, blending realistic details with abstract applications of paint to explore how much information is necessary to render an image legible.
The first volume of Composition presents a collection of the artist’s paintings made between 1988 and 2019, many of which depict transitory spaces – such as highways, airports, and hallways – appearing vacant and aloof. These fleeting landscape scenes, often capturing the perspective of someone on the move, give meditative attention to side-glances and everyday objects. The second volume marks a turning point in Irons’s process prompted by the pandemic lockdown, presenting still life scenes painted from observation. Alongside this quiet collection of paintings are the artist’s own writings considering the nature of looking and the genre of still life with both insight and humour.
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