Weaver’s new paintings argue her point. They are every bit as bombastic and complicated as previous work but with a heightened sense of risk and play—a quality that is mirrored by its subject matter. The new suite pulls on imagery of leisure: a couple having a drink, a park full of runners and their inert counterparts, a salon. The paintings radiate a sense of ease and interconnectedness. When asked about the narrative, Weaver shrugs off such a linear reading; in her estimation the compositions speak to each as one might around a dinner party. Part of this dialogue is formal. Weaver’s painting draws attention to the different techniques she uses—many of which are enabled by the brushes she creates.
She holds aloft a mega brush responsible for wide striped shirt of one larger-than-life figures. “I like to change up the mark-making,” Weaver says, “It’s been a new experience to leave behind the evidence of the brush rather than reworking and polishing.”
The artist’s stray drips and streaks pave the way into her studio process—offering her viewer an unprecedented vantage from which one can observed the joy Weaver takes in her movements. This desire to share her exuberance comes through the title of her James Cohan debut, “BEST LIFE.”
Of course, like the paintings, not everything is so neat. “BEST LIFE” is at once genuine and perhaps a bit sly. The checked out expressions of her figures losing themselves in their phones or thoughts cause a double take. Is vacation as simple as it seems?
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