LISI RASKIN

Leaden Hearts, Galleria Riccardo Crespi, Milan, 2016

Leaden Hearts, 2016
Oil, acrylic and in some cases paper on wood
Dimension variable

Exhibited at Galleria Riccardo Crespi in Milan, these small-scale, love-token-like paintings emerge from Raskin’s urge to reconcile modernist indoctrination with a desire to piece this broken world back together, carefully, lovingly, bit by bit. Raskin collected and repurposed vestiges from previous installations and fragments from their studio floor, viewing each element not as waste but as tokens of love and vulnerability, tenderly suturing these remnants into miniature paintings. In these works, Raskin nests diminutive scale and dedicational intention within a framework of chance, producing unrepeatable moves shaped by vulnerability, intuition, as well as the possible failures yielded by such a tactile decision-making process. Edges and fragments of materials are touched and coaxed until they transform into metaphors running parallel to our own imperfect embodiment—relationships cast in miniature that may recall the bloat of a new blister formed when your pinky toe rubs against your shoe all day. Paired with a video program emphasizing that no object exists in a vacuum, the show served as physical acknowledgment of the necessity of solidarity and the joy of being inspired by other artists.