Serena Potter’s figurative narrative oil paintings and mixed media work uses storytelling to seek reason in the unreasonable. Her pieces are notable for their vintage Southern California spaces and lighting, specifically drawing inspiration from her Culver City upbringing, classic film, illustration and literature. As a response to what the world experienced in 2020, this new body of work expands on those ideas and draws inspiration from Picasso’s ‘Guernica’. “Fables of Rhyme or Reason” highlight feelings of isolation and the fear of the unknown beyond one’s window. Potter’s new work often uses interior space, walls or fences to create barriers, a result of a year of staying at home. Her warm color palette draws viewers in by evoking feelings of comfort and nostalgia, only to lead to more sinister elements deeper within. During the early stages of the pandemic, Potter created multiple small character studies of her family. They began with sketches and photo references which she used to inform small oil paintings – remarkably smaller by comparison to her previous works. “During the pandemic, I needed to do something more immediate. I just kept painting 9” x 12” oil paintings.” Later in the year, Potter used her character studies for a larger composition, the three paneled ‘Masquerade’ which matches the proportions of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’. “I started with the composition for the right canvas, sketching it out, and fitting the larger elements together. Once the composition was sketched, I then uploaded, edited and printed all the photos I wanted to use for reference. Twelve to fifteen photos on average are used per painting for references, though the composition will continue to evolve on the canvas, adding elements, such as gloves or apples as needed, to lead the viewer through the composition.” Cynthia Sitton Cynthia Sitton’s “Fables of Rhyme or Reason” features figurative paintings influenced by the liminal space of fantasy and reality. In her detailed canvases, Sitton pairs realistic portraits with familiar emblems of fairytale and unreality, producing a conversation about the nature of reality as colored by mental illness. Sitton says of this new collection: “It is my love letter”. The impetus of her work is her own daughter, who is now 39, but has struggled with mental illness for more than twenty-five years. Drawing from this tender well, Sitton creates two coexistent realities. One draws from her lived experience: she portrays figures clothed in drab gowns, evoking the sterility of a hospital environment. This clinical setting is, however, not what it seems. Sitton uses the vivid colors of MRI imaging to break away from the expected realism of the place. She turns this naturalistic world on its head, subverting expectations of what is real and what is fantasy. Sitton is fascinated by the link between clinical psychology and literary fairy tales: “we use self-delusion on a small scale and a large scale and that’s how we exist.” In creating this second reality which rivals the hospital setting, she turns delusion to illusion. Using naturalistic colors and realistic portraiture, Sitton depicts the fantasy world she wishes she could give her daughter. Drawing from the “Legend of the Bird Queen’’ tale, she depicts a central figure-- a girl inspired by her own daughter’s visage-- chronologically traversing a fantasy world. This “unreality” is most real to Sitton, both in its concept and its construction. In her process, Sitton draws inspiration from the objects that surround her: plants from her own garden, birds she has dreamt of, and friends and family who she has posed in hospital gowns. In its conception and execution, the work is deeply personal, reflecting Sitton’s position as a painter and as a mother.