"In my new series of work, Delirium, I hope to bring the viewer into an 'other' world, different than the one in which they live," Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman told us this summer about her show at Bert Green in Chicago. "Depending on their perception, which is always inherently fictitious, this world might be scary or alluring." In a sense, Sullivan-Beeman has created a surreal universe, true to her feminist roots but also a touch of fantasy and spirituality. As the gallery notes, "Her paintings employ the history and lore of the "girl" in empowering femininity. The iconography and simulacra in her transcendental works reflect her view of the world and have metaphorical meaning through investigation of identity, gender, otherworldly narratives, and mythical animal personas, which she paints using a modified oil and egg tempera Renaissance technique."
One work in particular, shown above, that Sullivan-Beeman notes of is Blown About the Sky, which exemplifies her style and approach. "In Blown About the Sky peril seems imminent," she told us. "Falling through the heavens, the heroine is woven with her guides, city pigeons. Her fall represents all of the essential phases of the spiritual development of humankind, seen through a prism of fabled relationship between humans and nature." —Evan Pricco
