Barbara Sternberger | Emanating | Viewing Room

Barbara Sternberger, Pathways No. 21, 2022, oil on linen, 46.75 x 66.5"
INQUIRE>

Elizabeth Leach Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new abstract paintings by Barbara Sternberger. In this body of work titled Emanating, Sternberger embraces the constancy of change and each artwork contains the energetic record of their creation. The artist covers up the previous layers of her marks, obscuring any marks that she considers predetermined aesthetic decisions in favor of the pure expression that resulted from being intensely immersed in the present moment of their making.

Sternberger in her studio. Image provided by the artist.

Barbara Sternberger, Pathways No. 5, 2021, oil on canvas, 47 x 65.5"
INQUIRE>

Barbara Sternberger, Pathways No. 9 (Primary), 2021, oil on canvas, 60 x 65"
INQUIRE >

Gestural thick lines float amid multi-layered surfaces and appear to simultaneously advance and retreat, grounded by an earthbound color palette of burnt oranges, vibrant ochres and deep blues. The canvases hold accumulations of imagery and the artist’s gestural smudges and marks from previous layers are only faintly legible. These works each read like a palimpsest, a manuscript on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing, bearing visible traces of its earlier form. Sternberger continues to record intuitive, energetic moments of time through paint while the canvas acts as a conduit for emanating it back out into the world.

Barbara Sternberger, Pathways No. 11, 2021, oil on linen, 40 x 60"
INQUIRE>

Barbara Sternberger, Pathways No. 12, 2021, oil on linen, 36 x 30"
INQUIRE >

Barbara Sternberger, Pathways No. 17, 2022, oil on linen, 35.75 x 29.75"
INQUIRE >

Barbara Sternberger, Pathways No. 14 (Continuum), 2021, oil on linen, 32 x 39.75", SOLD
INQUIRE>

"In my studio I now methodically blend dry pigments, oil and wax to form a unique color object that I hold in my hand and apply directly to the canvas. The handheld oil paint allows me to stay in the canvas for long periods of time without interruption. Color becomes object. Thereby, the immediacy and tangibility of my handheld paint facilitate what is at the core of my process: bringing together mind, matter and process on the canvas."

-Invisible Presence Paintings by Barbara Sternberger