Perhaps what makes this show feel oppressive and otherwise generates unease is that at some primordial level it engages the teasing seduction of death.  You can’t put your finger on any direct evidence for this conjecture and any number of other interpretations remainavailable.  But the subtly of this notion, precisely like the seduction itself suggests something about the power these paintings wield.

Jan Wunderman, Denise Bibro Fine Art

This show serves as a mini retrospective of Jan Wundeman’s painting. She was a contemporary of the New York School artists, specifically aligned with the painterly side. Yet buried within the paint handling there is, to a greater or lesser degree, a hint of figurative elements.  The references include a generic sense of architecture or urban 

Jan Wunderman, Denise Bibro Fine Art

Jan Wunderman, Denise Bibro Fine Art

Jan Wunderman, Denise Bibro Fine Art

landscapes, a general suggestion of natural landscape and even the human form.  In one piece in particular a torso is wonderfully rendered in black and white.  The relationship between figurative and abstraction in this one piece is magnificently ambiguous. Although the figure is ever present it is also not permitted to dominate the piece.