Buddhist teacher Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has said that a knife becomes sharp as the result of "two exhaustions"--the exhaustion of the sharpening stone and the exhaustion of the metal. In the same way, he continues, "enlightenment is the result of the exhaustion of obscurations and the exhaustion of the antidote of obscurations." Liz Scheer  sharpens the knife of her 'painting-poems' by rubbing together two disparate narratives (one visual and one verbal) that have respectively 'maxed out' their claims to reality.  By pairing small jewel-toned paintings with patches of fiction pulled from a nonexistent ur-text, Scheer's work portrays the unexpected clarity that arises in moments of spiritual depletion. Through its uncanny iconography born from New Age paraphernalia and the culture of New England and the Midwest, Scheer's work portrays a kind of quotidian transcendence suffused with poignancy and humor. 

Liz Scheer is represented by Galerie Shibumi in New York. All inquiries should be directed to: [email protected]