Sojourner Truth Parsons Before spring, 2024

Composed of bright blocks of color arranged on horizontal and vertical axes, Before spring presents an abstract composition. Sojourner Truth Parson's works hover at the threshold of abstraction and representation, swinging back and forth as recognizable shapes such as bodies, flowers, city blocks or landscapes never fully settle in one register or the other. Sometimes the association with the outside world is anchored simply by a luminous round disc—sun or moon—that lets the painting shift at the blink of an eye. Or gentle slopes and upturned curves can suddenly manifest their eroticism before retreating again into a compositional whole of abstracted pattern.

Composed from overlapping elements—layers of paint alternate with thin washes, matt surfaces with slightly glossier and iridescent passages—the artist’s iconography constructs an interior environment, more psychic landscape than forest or city block, embodying emotional truth.