ODALISQUE Acrylic & Imitation Gold Leaf on Canvas | 54" × 34" | 2024

She was a waitress at Burgers n Beer in Brooklyn. She came to the studio and reclined in front of the monstera and became something else entirely.

The odalisque — the reclining figure, the woman at rest, the subject that has occupied painters from Ingres to Matisse to now — arrives here in a Brooklyn studio on a Tuesday afternoon, and she is completely, utterly herself. No mythology. No allegory. Just a young woman on a day bed in front of some very good monstera plants, wearing a green bikini top and the most extraordinary patterned skirt, reclined with the particular ease of someone who has decided to be completely present in this moment and is finding it entirely natural.

The gold leaf blazes across the upper canvas — imitation gold pressed into the paint, catching the light, giving the background the quality of a Byzantine icon or a Klimt or simply a very good afternoon in a Brooklyn studio when the light decided to do something extraordinary. Against it the monstera leaves are deep, saturated green — the artist's beloved plants doing what they always do in her work, which is to make everything around them more alive.

The day bed is deep blue velvet, or near enough. The skirt is orange and teal and painted with the expressive looseness that comes from genuine pleasure in the subject. The figure holds her gaze to the right, away from you, with the composed self-possession of someone who agreed to this and is comfortable with what it means.

Odalisque sits in one of the longest traditions in the history of painting — the reclining woman, looked at carefully, painted with devotion — while existing completely in its own moment. Brooklyn, 2024, a waitress who said yes, a monstera that was ready, gold leaf on the wall of a studio that knew what it was doing.

This is how the great paintings have always been made. Someone asked. Someone said yes. The rest is paint.

📦 Shipping & Details

• 54" × 34" original on canvas
• Acrylic and imitation gold leaf
• Signed and dated 2024
• Ships carefully rolled in a professional tube
• Upon arrival we recommend professional stretching and framing
• Prefer it shipped pre-stretched? Contact us before purchasing for a shipping quote at cost
• Certificate of authenticity included

One original. No reproductions. Someone asked. Someone said yes. The rest is paint.