Lucia Love's visually rich paintings are loaded with references to art history, mythology, politics, and the dynamics of power. The symbolism in this new group of paintings refers to the dyads of oppositional states, such as doom and hope, and solidarity and isolation.

These works depict flight or weightlessness in one form or another: the characters in her paintings operate within a state of suspension between dual forces. Love’s unusual painting style is well represented here—particularly their ability to incorporate multiple techniques, such as hyperrealism, brushy gestures, and a flat, cartoonish line into cohesive and dynamic compositions.

This suite of paintings is an overview of a continuing narrative thread developing through recurring imagery and motifs. The clearest illustration of this ongoing exploration can be seen in The Tower painting. At the top of the elongated composition, some lascivious nudes are absentmindedly eating state craft for breakfast while a tower of snakes hovers over a ring of figures attempting to save their house from being crushed.

This ring of red figures at the bottom of The Tower can then be viewed as a jumping off point for some of the symbolism being included in newer paintings where the ring of people can be seen hovering both on its own, and as a head of an angelic body that exudes power and capability.

These angelic forms may be viewed as a call to solidarity, and a way to illustrate the strength people can gain from working together.

This symbolism of solidarity and strength may be seen in juxtaposition to the images of lone feminine figures that incorporate moths as their faces.

The moth is a symbol of transformation, and they lend these images an air of mystery. In a way to mirror the dyad of doom and hope, these compositions explore being together and alone.

The Water Carrier enacts a story arc of transforming ones self, so may also be seen as a lone figure in contrast to the angel paintings, as is the figure of The Dreamer who pops in and out of Disney scenes.

Lucia Love (b. 1988, New York, NY) attended the School of Visual Arts on a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, where they studied painting and animation. The are a co-host of the Art and Labor podcast, where she chronicles the stories of social justice organizing within the arts.