Denizens of a Crowded City Populate Erin Milez’s Dense Paintings

Whether it’s scenes from the subway, streets, or Times Square, visions of New York City are often hectic and crowded. For Erin Milez, the hustle and bustle, but moreover the cramped spaces and tightness, characterize a new body of work going on view this month in Everything the Light Touches at Monya Rowe Gallery.

Milez recently moved from New York to Seattle, and she began to examine the nature of human connection, or the lack thereof, in urban spaces. Her expressive paintings draw on the visual language and subject matter of artists like George Tooker and Jacob Lawrence, who approached the theme of urban life through distinctive, figurative compositions. There’s also an unmistakable nod to the blocky, social realist style of Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals, which were often installed in civic spaces like post offices and libraries. For Milez, a similar dynamism informs her detailed, textural paintings, underscored by a very 21st-century sense of detachment.

a painting by Erin Milez of faces partly covered in shadows, looking up — “Walk Sign Is On”

There is a sense of closeness and intensity in Milez’s compositions that’s simultaneously meditative, as the artist renders light in golden hues and hints at symmetry. Characters are often squeezed into confined spaces or obscured by foliage and infrastructure, wedged together and yet almost completely self-concerned. A pair stopped beneath blossoming branches in “A Giving Tree,” for instance, find themselves in a situation that would be intimate were it not for their inwardness or reticency to say hello.

Other examples include a woman curled up on a crowded beach in “Pick Your Plot” and numerous passengers in “Subway” who are all individually tuned into their own electronic devices. Despite the crowded scenario, no one speaks to one another, and everyone appears calm. “I was surprised to find how many of the figures are cropped, particularly in their facial features,” Milez says of her own work. “This was my subconscious designing these people who are experiencing some sensory limitations, not using their full self to be attentive to the world.”

Everything the Light Touches runs from September 10 to October 24 in New York. See more on Milez’s Instagram.

a painting by Erin Milez of two people standing side by side next to a tree in the city — “A Giving Tree”

a painting by Erin Milez of a figure crouched behind a tulip in a glass — “Inside Flower”

a painting by Erin Milez of a crowded subway — “Subway”

a painting by Erin Milez of traffic during the golden hour — “Golden Hour”

a painting by Erin Milez of people on escalators — “Up Side, Down”

a painting by Erin Milez of a basketball hitting the net, with a pigeon perched on the rim — “He Shoots”

a painting by Erin Milez of a face obscured by plants in the foreground — “Camo”

a painting by Erin Milez of a woman on a stationary bike — “Stationary”

a painting by Erin Milez of light from a street lamp illuminating people in the rain — “Hark! The Rain”

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