Love Is The Message

Finch Lane Gallery. Salt Lake City, UT. 2022.

A solo exhibition featuring works completed by Eli Kauffman during their final year at Rhode Island School of Design. Curated by Claire Taylor. A majority of the paintings are nocturnes, where the energy of nighttime brings a domestic interior or a highway into a world of emotional intensity and urgency. The car is seen as a symbol of freedom and independence in American adolescence, while also serving as an opportunity for absolute chaos and disaster. Alongside the car, other settings that naturally seem to repeat in the work are the bedroom and the party. Scenes in the exhibition capture monumental events through everyday props such as a candle, a mascara brush, or a kitchen sink. Any object can feel magical in the presence of the right cast. It is really the relationship between figures that creates a sensational atmosphere.