Artist captures universal experience in body paintings

Feeling like an insect trapped in amber, Quarles, confined to her home and studio in Los Angeles, produced a number of paintings influenced by the social events such as the pandemic, the Californian wildfires and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Seeing her work as visual representations of experiencing the world within a body, Quarles treats the body as a medium through which people perceive and connect themselves with the outside world.

"These twisted bodies remind me of the anxiety and pain I experienced in home isolation especially during the first few months of 2020," said Chang Zhen, a visitor to the show.

Aside from the negative emotions characterizing the dark, volatile 2020, Quarles also tried to search some sort of serenity and hope in the darkness. This is achieved through the vibrant candy hues and the moon, often painted in red or orange with a fuzzy halo.

In Tha Nite Could Last Ferever, under a starry sky, an androgynous figure's body is bent backwards by a blue lake surrounded by green bushes; standing next to them is a balletic figure, ready to dance. A sad spectral presence, bowing its head, hovers at the upper-left corner of the canvas.