Work We Admire: Aubrey Levinthal

02 Sep, 2020

"I think when I started painting from memory more literally and not from photographs of memories, which was during graduate school about 10 years ago, I thought I was painting a sort of whimsy, the way it feels to remember accumulated experiences around the same table or bed and how some things come into focus, while others distort.

M+C, 2018, Oil on panel, 24 x 26 inches

Now, that impulse feels darker, like I’m painting my fear that nothing stays glued down and who even am I in this identity as a mother. Thinking of myself so clearly as a painter before, it feels confusing to be seen and known to myself as a mother, often first, now. And having a child, I feel the passage of time so acutely."

-Aubrey Levinthal in conversation with Alexis Granwell from the Two Coats of Paint blog, April 23, 2020.

Today I'm sharing the works of Aubrey Levinthal, a painter living in Philadelphia. I'm fascinated by her everyday imagery, compositions, and color palette. Her work is a portrayal of her life, with reflections of herself and her family caught in a moment from memory. Her paintings feel layered, like a memory itself and evoke an intimacy that sort of pulls you in and has you investigating the painting.