Stashenko at COSO: A Counterpoint to Negativity

KRISTEN STASHENKO: SPACES

THROUGH DECEMBER 24

HOLIDAY SMALL WORKS

NOVEMBER 9 THROUGH DECEMBER 24

COPLEY SOCIETY OF ART

158 NEWBURY STREET

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

By Lisa Mikulski

The Copley Society of Art is offering two shows this holiday season for art lovers in the Boston area. Now show- ing through December 24 is Kristin Stashenko’s solo show, “Spaces.” Beginning November 9, the gallery will also present their annual holiday exhibition, “Small Works.”

An award-winning artist and CoSo member, Stashenko provides for us works of dreamy lavenders and blues with her explorations of interior spaces and how those spaces may affect our sense of comfort and belonging. It is the artist’s hope that these depictions will “provide a counterpoint to the cur- rent negativity in the world,” and that they are “spaces that are easy to live in and to be happy,” Stashenko said in a press release.

Once a freelance illustrator for the greeting card and gift industry, Stashenko has turned her interest as a fine artist to graphic architectural landscapes. Depicting interiors and exterior landscapes — in gouache on paper and acrylic on canvas — she explores these areas with a strong emphasis on line and light. The works reflect, in their solid representations, abstract notions of physiological contemplation and an emotional push and pull.

All creatures seek comfort, and the derision felt in today’s current environment certainly compels our natural instincts to find places of ease. The bulk of Stashenko’s work gives us these places where we may find beauty, com- fort, strength, and escape, but she also reminds us, with glimpses of the outside world seen through windows and doors, of the reality from which we escape.

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