BOSTON, MA:  The Alpha Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Understory, featuring new paintings and works on paper by Elizabeth Livingston, on Friday, February 3rd from 6 – 8 p.m.  The exhibition will continue through Saturday, February 25th. 

Well-known for her images of nocturnal interiors and suburban landscapes, Livingston investigates the quiet loneliness that exists below the “canopies” we create for ourselves, to shield ourselves from an increasingly menacing world.  She portrays women in domestic interiors absorbed in inner activities – reading a book, gazing at a laptop – that suggest the act of delving into another world while escaping the one at hand.  Dense patterns on wallpaper and clothing are visually stunning yet border on overwhelming the figures.  Are these women so bound to their environments that they are inextricable? 

 Livingston flips this approach by depicting exterior views of houses at night, their windows illuminated from within.  One can imagine the women being on the inside of these structures, although these images place us in the position of the night prowler, attracted to the windows’ light, yearning to get closer.   

In such works as Fever, August, and Halcyon, Livingston adds yet another dimension to her overall narrative.  In these paintings, it is the phenomena witnessed in the sky that is the focus.  Massive cloud formations, a day moon, an airplane like a speck in the distance, now bring our attention to that which exists overhead, above the canopy.  There is something surreal, perhaps ominous about these images, despite the radiant, bright blue skies. 

Through all of these vantage points, from microcosm to macrocosm, Livingston explores human fragility and our attempts to find solace and security.  With the richness of her imagery, her attention to detail and her embrace of the quotidian, Livingston conveys the sense that, while the world is certainly fraught, it remains achingly beautiful. 

Livingston received her BA from Yale University and her MFA from Boston University.  Her work has been exhibited widely throughout the U.S., including solo exhibitions in Boston, New York City and the University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor.  She has had numerous artist residencies and fellowships, including at Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, The Ucross Foundation, and the Vermont Studio Center.  This is Livingston’s third exhibition with Alpha Gallery. 

 For more information contact Joanna Fink     joanna@alphagallery.com    617-536-446

Alpha Gallery   /   450 Harrison Avenue, Suite 55 / Boston, MA   02118 /    617.536.4465 / www.alphagallery.com