Phoebe Derlee employs bold decisive brushstrokes to create intimate yet distanced paintings of people often utilizing herself as subject. She often depicts her subjects isolated on bright monochromatic backgrounds in works that range in size from small to large scale canvases. Derlee, in her paintings, consistently looks at the human form, and the ways it can be reconfigured.
In pursuit of poetic moments, Derlee creates works that are simultaneously bold and tender, capturing an innate sense of familiarity and oddness. Her style is characterized by loose brushstrokes, a rough way of rendering, and an energetic and fluid mark making. In her paintings, Derlee moves her brush with simultaneously bold and delicate gestures, using a fluid oil paint that imparts this hard edged softness onto the canvas producing a striking visual impact. In her work the visibility of each brushstroke’s beginning and end is preserved, creating sharp, decisive moments where the brush meets and leaves the surface and imparting a veracity to the action and style of each painting.
In pursuit of poetic moments, Derlee creates works that are simultaneously bold and tender, capturing an innate sense of familiarity and oddness. Her style is characterized by loose brushstrokes, a rough way of rendering, and an energetic and fluid mark making. In her paintings, Derlee moves her brush with simultaneously bold and delicate gestures, using a fluid oil paint that imparts this hard edged softness onto the canvas producing a striking visual impact. In her work the visibility of each brushstroke’s beginning and end is preserved, creating sharp, decisive moments where the brush meets and leaves the surface and imparting a veracity to the action and style of each painting.
