Sylvie Mayer
Through layers of translucent washes that build to opacity, my paintings consider intimacy, interiority, and impermanence. Drawing from sources with varied markers of time, my work evokes a sense of anachronism. Repetition and duplication play a role; I repaint, rehearse, and alter images, shifting tone and texture to consider new meanings.
My paintings examine the mechanics of fiction—questioning the boundaries between reality and illusion and considering the construction of personal and collective narratives. Informed by my childhood spent backstage as the daughter of a ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher, I am interested in the dynamics of revelation and concealment in theatrical settings. Preoccupied by thresholds and in-between states, I depict transitional spaces that mediate between public and private.
Interior scenes are a frequent subject of my paintings, imagined as spaces of suspended time, imbued with traces of their inhabitants. I reflect on attachment, entanglement, and the complexities of interpersonal relationships. Suspended moments and hidden glimpses are altered through scale and perspective, converging to confront boundaries between the self and the external world.
Allegro, 2024.
Oil on canvas, 54 × 64 in.
Stage Door, 2024.
Oil on canvas, 58 × 84 in.
Reprocessing, 2024.
Oil on canvas, 48 × 188 in.
Broken Mirror, 2024.
Oil on linen, 18 × 24 in.
Daylight Saving, 2024.
Oil on canvas, 15 × 16 in.