Laura Karestzky, *But Whos Watching, 2021,* Oil on Panel 40x30, © Laura Karetzky and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles

Written By Emily Capone

In an almost obsessive manner, Laura Karetzky seeks to explore windows into the lives of others in Concurrence, her latest solo exhibition at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. Her paintings appear fevered and repetitive, all featuring a similar focal point: the image or reflection of a stranger through windows, mirrors and digital screens.

“The window I see from my window has been there for as long as I have lived here, but recently I’ve noticed it more acutely. The distance is just far enough that my near-sighted eyes can’t make out specifics,” Karetzky said in a press release from the gallery. “A single window illuminates a screen; a portal of life; in the dark and blank facade. Do they see me? Are they seeing me back?”

Laura Karetzky, *Stripped Film Screening,* 2021, Oil on Panel 30x24, © Laura Karetzky and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles

Karetzky seeks answers in Pink Room, an oil painting of a room that seems to vibrate to life with layers of pink. Peering through the pink window blinds from outside, we see a small teal box protecting a blurred figure. The teal box comes across like static on a television set. To the naked eye, the blurred image could be anything, and we are left to wonder.

Karetzky’s work feels invasive. In her next oil painting, The Window Through My Window, we find ourselves peering into another window. While I am ashamed of my speculation, the surreal image soon becomes natural, innocent, inviting, and I am like the spectator behind the lens. I want to know more. In any case, I deserve to know more, don’t I? They chose to leave their blinds open, after all.

Karetzky’s choice and application of her medium is purposeful. Each layer has a reason. The primed wood and textured backgrounds insinuate a history of use, much like finger streaks on a window or a tablet screen, while the layer itself is the first “window.” The actual windows evoke the physical engagement of the viewer, whether through a genuine representation in real time or through a time capsule. This hybridization is something Karetzky touches on with paintings such as Teal Text Window and Remote Screen. The play on words and the literal juxtaposition of the teal window on a digital screen is a stark contrast to the reflections through a mirror in Green Key or Of Points and Palms.

Laura Karetzky, *Remote Screen,* 2021, Oil on Panel 48x36, © Laura Karetzky and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles

“For the past 18 months, the rectangular box has become an obsessive reassurance of what exists outside my own self-distanced quarantine,” Karetzky said.

Karetzky adeptly addresses this new convergence of human interaction and observation in her work. The notion of watching someone through a digital platform has largely influenced daily life because of social distancing — sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. Now, even as we peel our eyes away from these windows to re-enter our offices, schools and shopping centers, we all seem to be stuck between two windows.

Concurrence is on view from Nov. 13 to Dec. 22 at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.