‘Seriously Pretending” paintings by Andrea Zuill opens July 31th

Shelter Island, NY – ‘Seriously Pretending’, featuring paintings by California-based artist Andrea Zuill, premieres at boltax.gallery. The opening reception is Saturday, July 31st from 6 to 8 pm. The exhibition runs through August 30th.

Zuill’s startling portraits of little girls explore the meaning of identity, beauty and cultural perceptions. By abducting meek, childlike images the artist delves into the inner human experience, examining both the person and the persona.

Working in a signature palette of candy-colored oils and graphic style, Zuill’s portraits recall the charm of children’s book illustrations, but like the original Grimm fairy tales, there is a dark, brooding element to her little girls. Here, storybook icons like ‘Goldilocks’ appear both pink cheeked and world-weary.

By juxtaposing the trappings of conventional innocence--little girls, ruffled dresses, bows and teddy bears--with such haunted expressions, Zuill’s work exudes a palpable tension. There’s a sense of a deeper psychological reveal to works like ‘Devil Party Dress’ and ‘White Feather Girl’. Are the girls exposing a primitive inner desire, or enduring roles imposed upon them? Pretending in earnest, lost in a moment of make believe, or reflecting a private reality?

The self-taught Zuill began painting and drawing in her teens, and has since developed an instantly recognizable style that is both painterly and illustrative. In works like the brooding ‘Rabbit Girl’ or ‘Tribal Girl With Neck Rings’, the subjects appears to float from a haze of unfinished canvas adding a mysterious dreamlike quality.

Seriously Pretending offers an opportunity to consider the truth behind pretending, to look at the conflict of not being whom you really are verses who you really want to be.