Thesis Exhibition: March 26 - March 29  

Reception: March 28, 2025, 5-8 pm  

Studio View, 2024, Oil on Panel, 8"x10"

Home, 2024, Lithograph, 9"x12"   

Artist Statement  

I have experienced the downfalls of dissociation as a coping mechanism to trauma, which lingers even after the threat has passed, and steals moments I want to remember. Observational painting, with a focus on my everyday surroundings, has become a catalyst for remembering more by allowing myself time to be present in a space, both physically and emotionally. Close attention through the act of slow looking is the core of my artistic practice. A sort of record keeping or notation, I paint to memorialize ordinary moments that feet monumental because they demand I stop, breathe, and experience the quiet not as a lonely space, but as something more, something wholly entangled in the human experience.

I’m interested in the poetry of ordinary scenes, in the quiet interaction of existing within a space and cataloging the intricacies of how light scatters across a surface or the many subtleties housed within a shadow. These quiet moments of emotional awareness, easily overlooked in the rush of routine, contain all of the details worth remembering and require very little invention on my part. Instead, painting these scenes feels like a conversation in which awareness and listening are paramount.

More information about Lilly Buttitta at https://www.lillybuttitta.com/. 

 All photos are credited to the artist.