Light Unveiled
I discovered Lauretta Vinciarelli unexpectedly through her enigmatic watercolors one rainy day at the Soho loft she used to live in with her husband Peter Rowe. Behind the mystery, she revealed herself to me in a tacit yet eloquent dialogue. It was as if I already knew her despite never having met her in person. The encounter could be summarized by the title from her series ‘Intimate Distances’.
Lauretta left this world on August 2nd 2011, exactly 68 years after she was born. There must be some meaning to vanishing on one’s birthday. Another artist with the same faith and with whom I also felt an instantaneous connection is Wallace Berman who died on his 50th birthday. Certain artists reach the status of immortality by allowing their spirit to keep on inspiring us through their creative legacy. Although not widely known by the general public yet, Lauretta is one of them. Her influence as a professor is widely recognized in architectural circles. Her sharp intellect joined with her relentless creativity had a subtle yet meaningful impact on Donald Judd, her companion of 10 years. Her remarkable drawing skills were matched by a vision that made her watercolors tab onto a surreal realm. She envisioned and invented spaces that didn’t exist; through them she was able to juggle between reality and imagination, transcending the Cartesian aspect of architectural sketches from the very beginning. The paradox lies in this contrast where a discipline as rigorous as architecture becomes a launching pad for an imaginary world.
The starting point is architectural spaces; over time the figurative dissipates, gradually taking a deep plunge into abstraction. The prisms she creates float in space, aiming towards the light. Despite the technical rigor and time required to paint them, they seem to flow out of her fluidly. It requires a very steady hand and incredible colorist skills to create these contrasts and transparencies with a brush yet the result doesn’t fall under the burden of over-thinking or over-manicuring. That is the magic behind Lauretta’s watercolors, they allow us to travel far away effortlessly.
Those later works are the ones that pulled me into her universe right away. They are portals towards an elusive dimension, one that we feel but can’t visualize. They become increasingly ethereal; through them she manages to express her internal path towards enlightenment. Our sudden connection was further confirmed by our common interest in Eastern philosophies. The Tao Te Ching was her book of reference, chapter 11 the one she explored extensively; it relates to the void. Reaching that place of surrender that allows us to become a vessel and let life flow naturally through us is one of the biggest challenges in our respective journeys; this is a place Lauretta seemed to have attained. Her later works are a testimony of that achievement, an interesting parallel with the gallery’s spirit, symbolized by its signage outside: an empty indigo frame, the space inside of it intentionally vacant, leaving room for infinite possibilities.
David Totah
