Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, Toronto

Note:

Valerie Palmer’s paintings are subtly surreal, psychologically-charged fusions of landscape and portraiture. Often, the borders of interior and exterior are dissolved or made ambiguous: windows or walls become portals, and overcast exteriors seem to invade and enwrap the stoic female figures that populate her paintings. This uncertainty can be readily seen here. There is a sense of unease, and the benign domesticity of the scene is undercut by an underlying instability. The girl seems frozen, halfway between the landings, weirdly between two spaces. The exterior landscape seems too dark to be casting the light on the side of the wall, while a small bird at the lower right - floating with a marked stillness, it looks to be a transplant from the rich winter landscape - exacerbates the surreal undercurrents of the painting. The whole scene plays with perspective, creating strange relationships. Hard, oddly flat angles of the house contrast with the muscled curves of the girl and the creeping branches of the trees. The window, awkwardly cut off from view by the too-large door frame, seems like it could extend to the left, stretching the landing: we can’t tell if the stairwell is crowded or infinitely huge. Rendered with compelling clarity, Girl in Leotard is a fantastic example of Palmer’s ability to create permeable, nuanced spaces that are filled with possibility.