The Sara D. November gallery’s current exhibit, Paper Jewels by artist, Julia Malakoff, is a collection of work from three shows that took place during the Covid pandemic.
Beginning in Richmond, while staying with her parents before the official lock down, Julia was “cleaning house” and treasure hunting through her family photo albums and dusty book collections.
She started collaging, using whatever she had at hand – pages out of books, old crayons and colored pencils and paper pieces including old letters and sketchbooks.
This became the show, “Peace & Love,” (August 2020) which conveyed peace through a dove and a nod to Matisse using paper cut outs. Next came “Good Juju” (October 2021) which explored Julia’s long haul Covid symptoms of loss of smell and taste. Here she explored how to imagine a palette that could replace her palate and a collection of colors that would be fragrant.
And finally, out of this thought process, “Paper Jewels” (June 2022) evolved, one with a much brighter outlook, lifting the darkness and letting the light in.
