The Space Between by Lis Pardoe

I intend for this painting to speak about personal space - mental and physical. Even amidst an
enchanting and stimulating atmosphere, a woman is sitting, self-reflective. It
takes vulnerability to accept our current state of mind and to pause our surroundings. The
window represents the things in which we do not know. I began this painting as my friend and
subject’s family in China were experiencing the coronavirus. She finished sitting for me just
before the U.S. was impacted, and I completed the painting as the first phase of re-opening began. Creating this work started as a way to challenge my inner critic, telling me that painting merely a contemplative scene wasn’t contemporary enough, but I’ve emerged feeling that it couldn’t be more relevant than now. I
don’t know where the ending will be and what the answers are, perhaps because we are still in "the space between".