Edgy.

This is the last week to see Jenny Dubnau's new paintings at Bernice Steinbaum in Miami, a series of self-portraits juxtaposed with paintings of flowers. I saw some of these in Dubnau's studio before she shipped them off. I was least interested in the flowers until I noticed a subtle detail--a theme, really--that all the flowers had in common. They were just on the very edge of beginning to wither. The slightest darkening of the petals, a faint curling. No matter how it's represented the descent has begun. Face or flora, these paintings are the artist staring into a mirror. Dubnau, in her mid-early 40's, packs all the emotions--sadness, anger, but also power--that one would expect to see from this vantage point. In the end the work feels honest, and most significantly, hopeful. This series of paintings isn't about how life moves out of us as much as it is about how we can move through it.