Lyles and King is pleased to present Tableaux rosa, a two-person show featuring paintings by Kate
Meissner and Regina Parra. In their own ways, these artists draw from theater and cinema to infuse their
paintings with corporeal narratives that suggest female liberation, anxiety, ecstasy or catharsis, feelings
heightened by their use of color and form.
In Kate Meissner’s work, the human body becomes character and prop: repeated and abstracted in
various tightly rendered scenes. Idealized feminine forms are partially lit, their faces turned away, omitted
entirely or obscured in shadow. Amidst curtains or in a dressing room, the figures take pleasure in a
performance of remaining unknown to us. Their presence is amplified through vibrant color and dramatic
lighting – Meissner accentuates the curve of a hip or a breast in velvety, contrasting hues that render her
characters otherworldly. Meissner uses bright reds or violets next to acid greens or electric blues to create
an optical tension. Her colors vibrate next to one another as a way to seduce us to keep looking. In
Vertigo, Meissner fixes our gaze on the torso of a figure who leans with one leg stretched out in an
exaggerated pose. Her legs gape open, emphasized by a weblike, latex suit that acts to camouflage her
into a futuristic chamber. Meissner creates a sense of illusion and artificiality, invites us into a vulnerable
moment while empowering her subject – a complicated psychology and perhaps driven by the artist’s own
desire to destabilize.
Parra’s paintings depict fleshy fruit submerged in milk – figs and pomegranate sliced open, plums
ripening – rendered in sumptuous shades of vermilions and burgundies. The contours of the fruit act curvy
and sensual, sometimes next to Parra’s hands or legs, and punctuated by a navel or fibrous leaves; details
which draw the fruit closer to the reality of our own bodies. She’s interested in painting fruit as an
offering, to connect with nature and living forces, to investigate what she describes as Pagan Eroticism.
This group of works is titled Bacante after the Euripides play The bacchae and in response to Parra’s
studies in Greek and Latin American mythology, focused on feminized deities within the stories. The
Bacchantes are liberated female ancestors who celebrate life and its Dionysian force without restraint or
repression. Her paintings, oil on paper mounted on aluminum, invoke these coital or ecstatic scenes,
eroticizing the historic still-life genre and enlivening Greek Tragedy to render both anew in fleshy
sweetness.
(Text by Emily Davidson)
Kate Meissner (b. 1995, Sacramento, CA) received an MFA in Painting from Yale University. Meissner’s
work has been exhibited at Lyles & King, New York, NY; 1969 Gallery, New York, NY; Office Baroque,
Antwerp, BE; Albertz Benda, Los Angeles, CA; Galeria Yusto/Giner, Madrid, ES; and Green Hall
Gallery, New Haven, CT; among others. Meissner’s work is in the collections of Denver Art Museum,
Denver, CO; Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao, China; The Mer Collection, Madrid, ES; and
Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL. Meissner lives and
works in Los Angeles, CA. Meissner is represented by Lyles & King.
Regina Parra (b. 1984, São Paulo, Brasil) is a cross-disciplinary artist originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil
who lives and works in New York. She works between painting, video, sculpture, writing, performance,
and choreography. Before entering the visual arts, she worked as the assistant director to Brazilian theater
director Antunes Filho, an experience that formed her deep connection with the performing arts and Greek
tragedy. Her work has been shown at institutions such as the Jewish Museum, in New York (USA),
MACBA-Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (SPA), Mana Contemporary in Chicago (USA),
Americas Society in New York (US), Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea (ITA), Centre d’Art
Contemporain d’Ivry (FRA), and Museu Nacional de Lisboa (POR). Most recently, in April of 2023, she
held a solo exhibition at Pinacoteca de São Paulo (BRA). Parra’s work is in the collections of the Museum
of Contemporary Art (MACBA) Barcelona; Museum of Art of Sao Paulo (MASP); Pinacoteca de Sao
Paulo; Figueiredo Ferraz Institute; Joaquim Nabuco Foundation; Museum FAMA, VideoBrasil, among
others. This is her first show with Lyles and King, New York. Parra is represented by Millan, São Paulo.