Cherry

SEFA Hudson is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new paintings by Josie Tolliver Shaw entitled Cherry. The presentation will feature seven recent paintings, all acrylic on canvas, including large-scale works such as The cake cutters II, which stretches over five feet tall. Tolliver Shaw’s thoughtful renderings depict her interpretations of the female figures and the social interactions that center her life. The paintings can be read initially as portraits. Yet, they are layered with objects and words in their abstracted backgrounds, which are rich with kitsch and ephemera. The symbols within—notably the cherry—endow the artist’s subjects with stories: both anecdotes of their collective experiences and nuances of their inner lives.

For Tolliver Shaw, the cherry became a primary motif. Growing up, a regular family destination was Door County, Wisconsin, famous for their rich cherry harvests. The fruit fused with the artist’s formative memories, and its iconography is also often linked to the feminine. Blocky, graphic letters spell out “Cherry” in the bottom corner of Allegedly lucky candle, almost appearing as an old-fashioned advertisement. The Americana energy continues in this painting that features a young woman taking a selfie on her iPhone, crowned by an eagle with a banner reading “In Squad We Trust.” The right hand side of the painting features numbers pulled from a “lucky” candle purchased from Walmart. Lore, belief and potential energy mediate the casual reality of the young woman sitting cross-legged in her t-shirt and socks.

In Pearl with apple, the artist’s sister is the primary subject. She is surrounded by ephemera: a bag, a coat, a candle and again cherries. Tolliver Shaw’s life-size portraits are not whole without her decisive iconography developed in the backgrounds. To look only at the figure, is to read a biography without the footnotes. Her explorations elaborate on the narratives in and around each person. The artist asserts that she seeks “to make a modern still-life” that can be interpreted as a Wunderkammer or a Cabinet of Curiosities, in which objects can be collected and displayed to relay a narrative. Indeed, Tolliver Shaw creates physical altars for her subjects in her studio. She has provided SEFA with a sampling that features a cowboy boot pin from her grandmother, a Princess Diana mug from 1981 and a white shell that is featured in Roadside attraction. This new body of work also reflects a shift in palette for the artist. Tolliver Shaw has selected darker tones for these works, relying more on the blacks and deep reds that are often associated with cherries.

Reflecting on queer spaces, Tolliver Shaw states: “I use scenic painting to create a matriarchal utopia and portray the integrity of female relationships. I harness my perspective as a lesbian woman and share that point of view with the viewer through scenic portraiture. My use of ornamentation, bright colors and female sociability purvey an alternative narrative to the viewer—one that is rid of patriarchal standards.” In Conditioner, Tolliver Shaw renders herself and her partner in an intimate moment, marked with emblems of places like Las Vegas, Nevada and Wilson’s ice cream shop in Wisconsin—tracking places as well as moments. From the window, visitors can see The lanes, another portrait of her sister, Pearl, that encapsulates her interest in bowling with the shoes and pin that hover beside the figure.