“In ‘Just a Moment,’ Neena invites us to climb down into a new psychic soup. Strange objects float and glow, spaces melt into one another, a haziness hangs over the street corners and shop windows. Her work has never been stranger, and it has never felt more real. To live in this moment in time is to be in a constant state of transience and unreality.
These paintings are a refreshingly honest and unvarnished look at what it feels like to be here now. And despite the uncertainty and fear that slinks around in the periphery of this work, ‘Just a Moment’ is above all a reminder that nothing stays buried for long. You'll be on the bus and look out the window and an old friend ghost will be passing by. Head down, shoulders up, a perfect moment in a swirl of fog.”
-Daniel Holzman
A “moment” is a short amount of time which separates itself from the fullness of the day.
Unlike mechanical methods of timekeeping, a “moment” is a unit with little standard. Our experience of them is subjective, which can be both beautiful and alienating. Maybe this is why sharing a moment with another person can be such a sweet thing.
These paintings reflect on small moments I’ve encountered- moths eying fur coats at a thrift store, members of UNARIUS (a space/alien focused spiritual school in El Cajon) ordering takeout, Ocean Beach surfers laughing on foggy waves, fireworks set off midday on 16th street.
The majority come from walking around San Francisco. I love seeing the view on the other side of the street play out- tender moments, drama moments, doorways with red light, birds resting on roofs. San Francisco's air is uniquely and casually bizarre. In the city’s calm and chaos, life often reaches beyond the ordinary.
Moments appear and are lost in the succession of time. Painting is a way to try and recall their magic because inside a painting there is no time.
-Neena Ellora Holzman
