With her new series Leibowitz takes the viewer on a voyeuristic journey somewhere between The Shining and Alice in Wonderland. The work focuses on the female psyche and draws its’ imagery from romantic 19th century literature scenery as well as vintage horror movies. The vignettes presented in the paintings depict at times rich and dramatically opulent interiors and at others simple denuded outdoor settings. Whether in socially enticing and oppressive interiors or free and seemingly more pure outdoor environments, the characters (exclusively women) all seem involved in role-playing. Occasionally blindfolded, masked, or nude, the women reenact childhood games, violent or sexual acts, cultural rituals, or tales of morality.
Influenced by Jung and Freud’s theories, Leibowitz plays with women’s counteracting primitive and developed, socially conscious instincts. Each painting contains a certain polarity, highlighting paradoxical elements - repulsion and beauty, fear and comfort, children and violence, the domestic and the demonic, etc- delivering complex psychological dramas.
