Lover’s Eye
A Hug From The Art World
515 w19th St New York, NY
Exhibition Dates: March 13, 2025 - April 26, 2025
Opening Reception: March 13, 2025 6pm - 8pm
As the eighteenth century was coming to an end, the popular trend of 'miniature' portraiture took a turn. In an act of aesthetic surgery, 'Lovers Eyes’ abandoned the full visage of their subjects and instead zoomed in on an isolated eye. This trend by no means diminished their potential, in fact, quite the opposite. Pinpointing the gaze in such a way further highlighted the human emotions. The resulting intensity of a bashful, lustful, jealous or brokenhearted gaze underscored the role of how being seen, is the primary site of desire. Lover's Eyes were a short-lived phenomenon, however, ultimately outmoded by the proliferation of photography. Lover’s Eye, Rachel Stern’s latest body of work, employs the classical media of painting, sculpture and photography in complex tableaux. Stern romanticizes these pursuits within her camera’s field of view, thus favoring photography as the medium of desire. Chiaroscuro, perspective, and figuration are celebrated against a backdrop of Lover’s Eyes from the paintings of Ingres and Claude Cahun photographs. The exhibition addresses photography’s paradigm shifting impact on the traditional artmaking practices of the late 1800s. It reenvisions the forsaken Lover’s Eye through photography’s unique doublings of sight and desire. When looking at Lover’s Eye, the work looks back.
