Examining the Iraqi artist Vian Sora’s magnificent paintings, the first thing that stands out is her color palette. A full spectrum of neons – greens, blues, oranges, yellows and reds – drip and seep across earthy ochers and browns. These oppositional colors immediately catch the eye, and then leave a viewer wondering how Sora can so effortlessly situate them alongside each other.
Colors are one of the many oppositions that Sora elegantly reconciles at her debut New York City show, Vian Sora: End of Hostilities, on view at David Nolan Gallery. The long and winding road that the Baghdad-born, Louisville, Kentucky–based painter has taken throughout her tumultuous life and career sits portentously in these meditative, appealing works that balance abstraction with figuration.
