Leidy Churchman: The Between is Ringing

12 Apr-6 Jun 2021

Overview

Leidy Churchman has created a prodigious number of paintings based on images and signs taken from the slipstream of their everyday encounters. These are frequently exhibited alongside abstract works that recall atmospheric and viscous space. Writers have noted that Churchman tends to pluck images from a wide range of sources including screen grabs from internet searches about animals and science, book and magazine covers, other artist’s artworks, embroidered pillows, tarot cards, and reproductions of medieval manuscripts. Churchman has also based their paintings on sculptures, icons, and Lojong slogan cards from the Buddhist tradition. While many of the paintings in this particular show resound with Buddhist teachings, there is only one that is based on a pre-existing photograph—a robust and gleaming image of the sun sunsetting through the trees of a coastal forest in Maine. In this way, The Between is Ringing is a subtle departure for Churchman in that for the first time in a long while, the majority of featured paintings are not based on found images—Buddhist or otherwise.