In Erin Milezs new body of work, the press of city life becomes both subject and structure. The paintings in Everything the Light Touches at Monya Rowe Gallery channel the hustle, cramped spaces, and tightness associated with New York City. After recently moving from New York to Seattle, Milez began to probe the nature of human connectionor its absencein urban environments.
Compression, influence, and a 21st-century hush
Milezs expressive, detailed, and textural compositions draw on the visual language and subject matter of George Tooker and Jacob Lawrence, and they carry an unmistakable nod to the blocky, social realist style of Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals commonly installed in civic spaces like post offices and libraries. She renders light in golden hues and hints at symmetry, even as figures are squeezed into confined quarters or obscured by foliage and infrastructure. The works feel energized yet underscored by a distinctly 21st-century sense of detachment.
I was surprised to find how many of the figures are cropped, particularly in their facial features, Milez says of her own work. This was my subconscious designing these people who are experiencing some sensory limitations, not using their full self to be attentive to the world.
Scenes from a crowded city
That tension is palpable across individual paintings. In A Giving Tree, a pair pauses beneath blossoming branchesa scene that might be intimate if not for their inwardness and reticence to say hello. Pick Your Plot places a woman curled up on a crowded beach, while Subway gathers numerous passengers, each tuned into personal electronic devices; despite proximity, no one speaks, and everyone appears calm. Throughout, closeness and intensity coexist with private absorption.
Additional works associated with this series include Walk Sign Is On, Inside Flower, Golden Hour, Up Side, Down, He Shoots, Camo, Stationary, and Hark! The Rain.
Everything the Light Touches runs from September 10 to October 24 in New York at Monya Rowe Gallery.
