Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is very pleased to present an artist talk with exhibiting artist Laura Krifka. In the talk, Krifka speaks about the paintings on view in her solo exhibition Still Point.

Laura Krifka carefully constructs intimate narratives that deftly employ the power of the gaze. This new series delves into psychological realms of the self, navigating the relationship between shifting identities. Krifka holds multiple moments in each painting, both acknowledging and mourning the loss of a former identity, while at the same time relishing the radicalization of change.

In her paintings, Krifka posits the viewer in tightened domestic interiors that often frame an expansive landscape. These interior spaces allude to monotony and the slow but ever-present ticking of time. Some paintings contain figures caught in moments of longing and hesitation, while others are devoid of the figure completely. This focus on presence and absence heightens the sense of isolation as one moves through the paintings, and hints at a self that is somehow disappearing in the world.

Yet, on the edge of these paintings are moments of extreme and exuberant beauty, embodied in the flicker of light through leaves at dawn, or beads of water resting like jewels on a kitchen sink. Within the tedium and anxiety of a domestic life Still Point reveals radical encounters with the sublime and ecstatic moments of love for the whole of the human experience.

Laura Krifka was born 1985 in Los Angeles, CA. She lives and works in San Luis Obispo, CA. Krifka received her MFA from UC Santa Barbara in 2010 and her BFA from California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo in 2008. Krifka has exhibited her work at venues throughout the nation including Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, the Torrance Art Museum, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, LA Louver, CB1 Gallery, and Beacon Arts in Inglewood, as well as BravinLee Programs in New York, Vast Space Projects in Las Vegas, and Unit One, London. Krifka’s work has been featured in various publications including Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, New American Paintings, and Artillery Magazine and her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, The McEvoy Family Foundation, and the Pizzuti Collection.