Xyl Lasersohn’s large scale oil paintings address the uncanniness of the ordinary. Originally from NE Ohio, Xyl currently lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. Xyl received a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art before earning an MFA from The Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art. His paintings have been exhibited at the Butler Institute of Art, The Peale Museum, Botanica Grove NYC, Hedge Gallery, Framework, and The Yards Projects. His work has also been featured by Ocean State Review and Bold Journey Magazine.
My paintings provide no easy answers. As I continuously
change the canvas, adding opaque layers of paint, the
paintings start to fall into an uncanny space. Traditional
materials and found objects come together to create
unsettling landscapes. Viewers are denied comfort as
common objects slowly shift into uncanny forms.
These relics of the everyday are presented on a stage with
a bright light casting a stark shadow. There is little to imply
a world beyond; entire scenes feel like constructed indoor
spaces, even as the moon shines in the sky.
I create oil paintings focused on quiet conformities. The
paint is thick and layered with stark divisions between the
fields of color. I think often about separation and what
allows us to distinguish one thing from another. The scale
of the work allows for a personification of the objects; they
fulfill the compositional role of figure within the ground. Yet,
when these objects are placed within this landscape, there
is a break upon the field, an equivocation that occurs, where
each element is at equal risk of division or bisection. I do
not see it in terms of flatness versus space but as a more
digital screen that can be modified, space being built more
from compositional concerns rather than a predetermined
image or photograph. There is an inherent but indirect
violence baked into the work that emerges slowly from
extended viewing, a slow unease that creeps up as the
paintings become more uncanny.