“I’ve always been interested in very, very subtle emotional territory, like a painting of someone being passive aggressive or subtly self-conscious—these tiny, non-grand emotions.”
Through the sideways tilt of a glance, the subtle curl of a lip, or the droopy slouch of a shoulder, the subjects of Grace Weaver’s watercolor portraits express the self-conscious performativity, empathy, and awkward aspirationalism of her generation. Working in wet media, Weaver's mark-making induces unforeseen color spreads and bleeds, allowing the capricious nature of watercolors to drive forms forward in her daily experiments with portraiture. Suggesting personalities in flux, these works trace unsettled, shifting states of recognition and presentation—and evoke the lived experience of contending with an ever-changing sense of self.
Visit Grace Weaver's viewing room experience with James Cohan Gallery here.
