Nava Lubelski's work explores the contradictory impulses towards spoiling and mending, charting the blurred line between compulsive re-use and obsessive growth with works on and of paper and cloth. Her works on canvas are "paintings" which are destroyed then repaired. Spills and torn openings are made whole through a careful application of detailed threadwork and lace-like inlays, which offer peek-a-boo views on the interior space between canvas and wall. The results appear painted from a distance, but reward the viewer's closer inspection. The update of Abstract Expressionism overlays the movement’s aggressive energy with the quiet, subliminal expression of traditional "women’s work".
Nava Lubelski is a native of New York City, now living in Asheville, NC. Most recent exhibitions include Mixed Messes, OHT Gallery, Boston, MA (solo) and The Gift: Building a Collection for the Queens Museum, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY. Before moving away from the city, Nava received a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Artist’s Fellowship and a studio residency with the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation. Nava is the author of The Starving Artist's Way, a tongue-in-cheek hipster crafts guide with an art history narrative. She has a degree in Russian Literature and History from Wesleyan University.