Sandra stone: moving light

Exhibition Dates: October 31 - November 25, 2023

Reception: thursday, November 2, 5PM - 8pm

The Painting Center is pleased to present Moving Light, selected paintings of Sandra Stone 1974-2011. This is Sandra Stone's first solo exhibition in New York City. Her paintings and drawings have been in group shows in and around New York City (Lori Bookstein, Lohin Geduld, There) Connecticut, and Italy. She was a long time member of the still life collective Zeuxis, which exhibits in New York City and around the country.

This exhibition consists primarily of a selection of figure paintings and a series of paintings done from the views out of her window when she lived in Rome. For most of her life Stone painted in one or two sittings – closely observing her subjects in day light. 

Her paintings are quiet and sensitive yet bold and direct. Through close and careful exploration, her paintings capture and condense with economy and expression the essence of an intimate world where a song of color and feeling is revealed. The improvisational nature of painting "a premier coup" was important to her. Often she left paintings open or "unfinished" when they felt resolved as a whole or had a fresh luminous quality. 

Born in 1933, Stone grew up in Dearborn Michigan, was awarded a full scholarship to attend Antioch and then pursued a BFA at Yale school of art. She painted or drew every day but was not interested in a career. Although her husband and most of her friends were artists, she was very private about her own work, disliked discussing it, and was often reluctant to show it. Before Stone died in 2021, her daughter, the painter Alix Bailey, who cites her as a primary influence, got permission to curate this show of her work at The Painting Center.

For more information on the artist, contact Alix Bailey: alix.bailey@gmail.com.