Galleri Urbane is pleased to present Scattered light, a solo exhibition of artist Saskia Fleishman. Scattered light refers to the phenomenon in which light rays, when encountering particles such as dust, smoke, water vapor, or gas molecules, abandon their original path and careen in a different direction. The scattering of light, a natural occurrence, gives rise to extraordinary visual phenomena such as the rays of light that beam through a misty forest canopy or the rosy hues of sunrise and sunset. Witness the work of Fleishman.

In her canvases, chiffon is the fragile, diaphanous substrate that exhibits versatile qualities. In many ways, the notion of scattering is present in the topographies captured in each work. From near and far, photographs—from Cape Elizabeth, Chincoteague, or Sedona—are transposed and embedded with sand gathered from the location. At the pinnacle of radiant immateriality—at sunset—materials vibrate against one another. Transubstantiation occurs; harmony prevails.

Scattering can also refer to a new sense of movement in Fleishman’s compositions. More than in previous work, the artist has abstracted the landscape, letting it be dominated by the whorls and linear shapes and their insinuations of compositional plasticity. The compositions encompass the whole picture plane. They are abstracted or fluid, spiraling or radiating, or proliferating stripes that seem as though they could be oscillating—a moiré effect that draws the viewer in even as it breaks up the landscape. Rippling in new ways, Fleishman’s work resists being stationary.

The pieces become all-encompassing. “I intend the chiffon cut-out compositions to carry a similar, equal weight as the painted portions in order to balance the materials and create an immersive, dynamic environment. I want the two edges of the material to contrast one another and blur into each other to create motion, subtleties, and illusion,” Fleishman says. In the palimpsest of each work, movement is another layer, as is time: the time and place in which the photograph was taken are evoked and yet also infinitely, irrevocably transmuted and transcended, aesthetically and conceptually. Fleishman’s canvases evoke a fundamental concept: “The world changes; we’re in motion,” the artist says, “and what will we do with our time here?” Like particles, we question—refract, resist, perhaps repair—the moments we pass through. They hold us and are held in turn by the energy of place.

Saskia Fleishman (b. 1995, Baltimore, MD), graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2017 with a B.F.A. in painting. She has been an artist in residence at The Jentel Foundation, Tongue River Artist Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Wassaic Project, PADA Studios, ChaNorth and Trestle Studios, and a curator in residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Saskia’s work has been exhibited at Galleri Urbane in Dallas, TX, Red Arrow in Nashville, TN, Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, Dinner Gallery in New York, NY, Unit London in the UK, Goucher College in Baltimore, MD, and The Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, VA, among others. Her work has been featured in Make Magazine, ArtMaze, Root Quarterly, Friend of the Artists, and Galerie Magazine. Saskia is based in Philadelphia, PA.