It’s not every modern painter whose work gives her audience space while also welcoming them in. According to friend and curator Sam Quigley, Elizabeth Enders’s work achieves both of those and much more.
“It’s honest, it’s forthright, it’s pure, it’s sometimes witty, it’s whimsical sometimes … it’s measured, it’s clever and it’s understated. And it’s always welcoming,” Quigley said. “She invited us to see the world in a way we probably don’t normally, but it’s a world view that I find so comforting and embracing.” Quigley is director of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut.
Having curated an exhibit with Enders at the Lyman in 2015, Quigley offered his praise and commentary of the artist’s work during an opening reception for “A Particular Blue: Paintings and Works on Paper by Elizabeth Enders” on Thursday night.
The exhibit, curated by Lesley Director of Exhibitions Andrew Mroczek, is on display at the Lunder Arts Center’s Roberts Gallery through April 2. The exhibit features about 100 of Enders’s oil painting, watercolors and drawings from the 1970s through 2019.
The subjects range from coastal landscapes to the pregnancy of Enders’s daughter. In all her work, Enders said she tries to leave openings for the viewer to interact with the subject matter.
“I let people have some space so they can interpret. I think that’s very important,” she said at the opening. “Sometimes painters … they fill every single space. I like the idea that there’s room.”
