Lotus of Nephthys
15 September – 05 November 2022
Opening reception: Thursday, September 15, 6–8:30pm
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We are pleased to present Lotus of Nephthys the first solo show of the artist Tali Lennox at the gallery.
Life as we all know is a blend of dark and light, one does not exist without the other. Within this body of work, artist Tali Lennox explores her journey in and out of both states physically, mentally and spiritually. Such searching has culminated in a delicate yet defiant collection of oils, exploring the idea that by confronting and honoring the symbiosis between these contrary forces, the ultimate protection and strength can come from within.
As referenced in the title of the works, Nephthys is the Egyptian Goddess of spells, death, embalming and mourning. Her name translates roughly to Mistress of the House, guarding the soul's journey between realms. In the Book of the Dead, Nephthys is shown standing on a rare blue lotus. Lotus flowers are both beautiful and resilient, blooming with long roots that permeate seemingly inhospitable waters to produce luminous and exquisitely symmetric petals.
Lennox’s palette for the collection is skillfully refined, with bottle greens and dark watery blues harmonized by a range of iridescent lunar whites and pearly creams, like the moon striking the ocean. Animals seemingly apparate from canvas to canvas, lending the body of work a feeling of magical surrealism while exploring a mergence of nature with the human body, like crustaceans growing on skin. From the soul carrying blue butterfly to the menacing alligator (a symbol of spiritual cleansing and healing), mother nature is deified as the conclusive symbol of strength, survival and hope in her relentless ability to redirect energy and keep all living things moving towards the light.
It is no surprise that nature has been distilled so strongly in this collection, Lennox painted it in near solitude in Upstate New York. This decision was to perform as she explained:
“A meditation on the deep murky waters of our past that I believe we must swim through to get to the light. Within this journey we also realize that we too are the deep waters, we are nature, we are transformation, constantly shedding serpent skins, dying to be reborn. We can hold both the sun and the moon.”
Tali Lennox, The Butterfly’s Spell, 2022
Oil on linen, 50,8 × 40,6 cm (20 × 16 in.)
Tali Lennox, Luna Park, 2022
Oil on linen, 121,9 × 66 cm (48 × 26 in.)
Lennox’s figures are often in repose, but never vulnerable. They are in various stages of almost ritualistic torpid regeneration and repair; undergoing a radical transformation while gazing defiantly at the viewer who they invite arcanely to gaze upon their metamorphosis. Yet the mystery of the exact transformation defines the appeal of the collection as Lennox builds a fortress and weaves a labyrinth of suggestions and symbols, only ever half pulling back the velvet curtains.
The wax-like skin of the women and their beautiful features have been warped just enough in size, shade and form to imply an embalming, a frightening impermeability and a calm embrace of mortality. They are amorphic, bending through mirrors and languoring while their heart is ripped out. Trinkets, lockets and a cacophony of bottles and potions surround them and flit between appearing medicinal and poisonous, lending the collection a domestic yet dangerous intimacy. The shadowy potency of the bed symbolises personal struggle and is a site that holds almost sacred value for healing and reflection, loaded with feminine and sexual implications for strength, rest and power.
These women are sorrowful yet stoic, steely yet sensual, as though preening their feathers after a fight, mythically implied in ‘Ostrich Waltz’, with the seamless blending of woman and bird. The ostrich symbolizes strength through resistance and hardship, while the egg represents truth, life, and rebirth. The series concludes with the work ‘Sanctity’. Beneath the transformational blessing of the butterfly, it takes only the most delicate drop of blood from the heart to fill and enlighten the chalice of the soul, but first you have to bleed for it.
— Katie Brown
2022
Oil on linen
71.1 x 55.8 cm / 28 x 22 in.