chloris

Lois Lambert Gallery Presents “Transfiguration”, a series of oil painting from Geneva Costa.

Costa’s works are focused on censorship and identity in relation to her own experiences and to the larger plight of women in society. While personal narratives propel the creation of each piece, they are allegorical in imagery and symbolism to allow the audience to interpret and experience each piece on their own terms.

Geneva utilizes oil paint and traditional painting techniques to underscore the biased representations of women in an historical context with special attention to the treatment of the female form throughout art history. In each work, Costa blends the autobiographical with current political and religious themes to parallel the historic narratives commonplace in classic oil portraiture.

In this series, Geneva uses obfuscation of the female face as commentary on imposed identity and the censorship of thought. For instance, the painting Divest is painted in a manner that identifies the subject matter as a woman, yet the face, her most identifying feature, has been censored as a commentary on current political events, societal views of the female, and religion’s role in the depiction of women.

Geneva Costa has a BFA in Studio art from Montana State University and an MFA in Visual Arts from California State University, Northridge. She has shown across the country in solo and group shows. Her work was included in the collection of the Chancellor of the California State Universities. She currently lives and works in South Dakota.