Liz Lea thesis exhibition: 'Birthing the Bardo'

Birthing the Bardo, a thesis exhibition by Liz Lea (M.F.A. painting), presents works exploring the binaries of life/death, conscious/unconscious, and seen/unseen. After navigating a psychological death due to the sudden passing of her soul mate in 2009, Lea underwent a period of transformation akin to the journey chronicled in the sacred Buddhist text The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its descriptions of the “bardo” — or the intermediate state one’s consciousness enters before reincarnating into a new form — contextualize Lea’s experience and inform her newest body of work.

Wrought with feral marks and vivid color, Lea’s paintings articulate the various phases of consciousness within her bardo passage. Figurative archetypes and mythological abstractions lie within kaleidoscopic compositions to symbolize the complex nature of these alternate states. Emerging from the contradictory forces of trauma and transcendence, Birthing the Bardo welcomes viewers to witness Lea’s rebirth.

Opening reception: Friday, Nov. 10, 5–7 p.m.

Gallery hours: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.