This series of eleven paintings/drawings by Laetitia Hussain is based on the interaction between a chair and a female figure. The chair functions as a barricade, a shield, a vessel, a precipice, a podium, a place for contemplation, even a hazardous object from which one may be ejected. A uniform line connecting chair and figure describes both transparency and invsibility. In some works, substrates are part of the subject matter; solid color fields provide backdrops of sentiment in others. The figure's direct, unnerving, indolent, or alluring gaze beckons or reproaches. An unseen adversary is frequently implied. These portraits of a psyche combine a refined minimalism with highly charged emotional content. — WENDY McDARIS | March 2009 LA CHAISE :: Paintings by Laetitia Hussain :: Deffebach Gallery, Hudson and Luna 61, Tivoli :: 2009 :: LAETI.ORG