Idyll

Dream-filled landscapes, portraits, and abstracts in beautiful detail Amber Albrecht's work is rooted in magic, folklore, and postfeminist neo-romanticism. The newest entry in the Petit Livre imprint of accessible art books, "Idyll "comprises a series of paintings, silk-screened prints, and drawings. Much of Albrecht's work is inspired by the dreaminess of childhood, whether expressing her cloudy recollections of the storybooks she read as a child (stories populated by strange creatures, impossible happenings, and oneiric landscapes) or the forested West Coast landscapes that surrounded her. On the pages of "Idyll," a series of interconnected myths emerges fully formed, each myth articulating a sense of wistfulness for a past that never was. By turns surreal, fantastical, and absurdist, Albrecht constructs these pieces with the vivid yet subtle values that are a product of her silk-screening work. "Idyll "employs female iconography in myriad ways--many of these works feature female figures, the lushness of the natural environment, and femaleassociated textures (ornamental detail, as well as lace and other fabrics). Albrecht's "Idyll "communicates questions about loneliness, passivity, and loss through investigations of femininity and nostalgia for an imagined past.