"Metanoia"

This fascinating new collection from BC artist Pilar Mehlis features dynamic compositions that use symbols drawn from historical visual language as well as Greek mythology, and symbols that are culled from the artist's own experience.  Of particular importance is imagery relating to vices and virtues and their transformative powers.  Through the power of imagination, Pilar explores the possibilities of this language by populating her canvases with creatures familiar yet "revised" to suit her purposes.

Pilar Mehlis is known for her classically influenced works with a "twist" that make them wholly relevant to the postmodern age.  Her images are richly allegorical and often incorporate human and animal relationships.  The animals in these relationships are symbolic and metaphorical, as they serve as foils for or extensions of the human psyche.

Petley Jones Gallery

1554 West 6th Ave.

Vancouver,BC

Numen Gallery is pleased to present "Tales of Isolated Incidents",
oil paintings in the style of magical realism by Pilar Mehlis.

The exhibit runs from March 29 until April 27. You are also invited to its opening 
reception at Numen Gallery, 120-1058 Mainland Street, Yaletown, 
on March 29, from 4 pm to 6 pm. The artist will be in attendance.

Pilar Mehlis was born in Manhattan, NYC, and grew up in La Paz, Bolivia and Whitehorse, Yukon.

She later moved back to La Paz where she attended the Academy of Art Hernando Siles and the Fine Arts program at Universidad Mayor de San Andres.

Mehlis obtained her BFA at  the University of Victoria double-majoring in Art History and Visual Arts. After much travelling, she settled in Vancouver where she now paints full time.

In “Tales of Isolated Incidents”, Mehlis has created for our exploration an otherworldly landscape where the ordinary and the extraordinary co-mingle. Her works offer us delightfully surreal and  at times provocative expressions of the subconscious.

Beatific humans, fantastical beasts and objects populate Mehlis' canvases, striking 
regal and commanding poses - actors in a pantomime of the human  psyche.

The air of quiet mystery exuded in their communion of seemingly disparate attributes beckons us with its promises of subversive enchantments.

Celine Rumalean

Director

Numen Gallery