Ulterior Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of works by Jen Mazza. Comprised primarily of a group of previously unseen figurative paintings from the 2000’s, this show presents those works in conjunction with a few of Mazza’s most recent works, connecting her practice, past and present.

Mazza’s Ceruse paintings are a series of works similar in size and imagery that show fragments of a face in extreme close-up views. Seen together, these works form a connected sequence which is highly performative. Seemingly unwelcome gestures compress and twist her flesh in closely cropped and pantomimed images of emotional theater that are intimate, yet slightly unnerving. Fingers mold and manipulate the flesh of cheeks and lips, as in Equivalence (2008), where a hand forcefully presses red berries to distort the plump, exaggerated, rouged lips. Not intended as self-portraits, these images defamiliarize the facial features, rather than prompt recognition.

This extreme proximity of the viewer to the painted face creates a feeling of vulnerability. The title, Ceruse, comes from the 16th century facial cosmetic made by mixing white lead with vinegar, historically used to brighten the skin of the aristocracy. This representation of a material once prized for its connection to beauty, also alludes to its toxicity.

Mazza’s most recent work, “In a station,” illusionistically depicts a page of text from Alice Notley’s book The descent of alette. In Notley’s celebrated feminist narrative poem, a narrator named Alette descends underground, not to hell, but into a network of scenes that resemble NYC in the late 80’s. The rhythm and tension of Notley’s words and pauses draw in the viewer in much the same way as Mazza’s images create an atmosphere that feels urgent and unsettling. The linear hanging of this show emphasizes a kind of confounding repetition that obscures more than it reveals.