Var Gallery is pleased to to present Stephanie Sara Lifshutz's, "As The Worst Had Already Happened", opening Saturday December 7th, 6 - 9 PM at Var Gallery 5th Street.

 

"This exhibition was borne of extensive autobiographical writing directly following the unexpected passing of my youngest brother, Avigdor Chai Avraham, z”l, in April 2021.   

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The work chronicles some of the experiences of that night when I coincidentally happened to be at my grandparents’ home, getting updates over the phone while trying to break the news to them and handle the aftermath.  While revisiting my records of that experience with this type of grief has at times been contemplative, numb, or physically painful – as it had been in the moment; what was most surprising were the seemingly trivial details that I had documented and now share with you. 

 

This work is dedicated to the memory of my brother and would not have been possible without the support of my family and friends.  Special thanks to Random Neon LLC and West Coast Custom Designs LLC for their contributions."

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Stephanie Sara Lifshutz is an artist and educator residing in Brooklyn, NY. She first began working with glass and neon while attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison as a graduate student. While much of her work comes from a personal place as a female, Jewish artist, Lifshutz’s latest body of work has been about universal experiences and emotions. Lifshutz initially studied photography and printmaking at Franklin & Marshall College and became infatuated with portraiture. 

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She began learning neon in earnest in order to make some new work in the medium herself, struggling to learn while appreciating the time and process as a reference to the tedium and meditative nature of the darkroom. Lifshutz’s studio practice first focuses on concept and subject matter before deciding which medium to realize the piece, and neon felt like a natural progression to edit down a concept to its simplest form - directly communicating it to the viewer.

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Lifshutz’s work has been exhibited nationally, including the Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin & Marshall, Museum of Neon Art, and Aqua Art Miami. Her work resides in various collections and keeps an active studio practice in addition to her teaching, and currently runs her own neon fabrication shop Pumpkin Studios.