ALIVE

Phoebe Derlee – Alive

With her new works, New York–based artist Phoebe Derlee presents paintings that are at
once immediate and contemplative. Many of her pieces are created in a single session
of eight to ten hours—a process that gives the colors a tangible vitality and the
compositions an immediate, spontaneous directness, fully reflecting the way they come
into being. Derlee approaches painting as a snapshot of an inner state, an attempt to
translate perception and memory into color.
Living in Brooklyn, the artist combines the fleeting quality of photography with the
materiality and depth of painting. Her figures seem caught in motion—between
recognition and elusiveness, presence and disappearance. Throughout, it remains clear
that the focus is not on a perfect likeness, but on the act of seeing itself. Repetition,
variation, and perception become central themes: How does an image change when
viewed—or painted—multiple times?
In Derlee’s new paintings, she herself comes to the forefront. Guided by emotion, her
self-portrait becomes an exploration of a transient, universal state—thoughtful,
vulnerable, and imbued with color. In these encounters, the power of painting emerges
as an open, sensual space for seeing.
Phoebe Derlee studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris,
Hunter College, and Bard College (MFA). Her work was most recently featured in the
solo exhibition Echoes at Venus Over Manhattan, New York. With these new paintings,
she continues her path as a subtle, distinctive voice of a generation that is revitalizing
figurative painting—direct, present, and profoundly personal.