Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is renowned worldwide, serving as the final resting place of notable figures such as authors Oscar Wilde and Marcel Proust, musicians and composers including Frédéric Chopin and Édith Piaf, and Jim Morrison of The Doors, among others. The cemetery’s family tombs and sculptural headstones are iconic, and during her visit last year, artist Marina Kappos found herself captivated by the sculptures of grieving women. “They seemed to hold a power in their sadness, but also great beauty and remembrance as they stood guard over many of the tombs,” she reflects.
In her solo exhibition, Piercing the Veil, at SHRINE, opening this week, Kappos explores themes of loss and memory. She describes grief as a complex and layered topic, aligning with the current times but also revealing hope and vitality. The cemetery setting accentuates the contrast between life and death, drawing the artist’s focus to the interplay of presence and absence, the earthly and the spiritual, and the notions of impermanence and decay.
Piercing the Veil showcases Kappos’ distinctive aura-like acrylic paintings on wood panels. These works, with their thin layers of pigment, create a gauzy, psychedelic, prismatic effect. The title of the show hints at a deeper consciousness and an awakening to a higher level of perception. Kappos explains, “These paintings depict that threshold, moving from one realm to another.”
Some paintings feature hazy landscapes in the distance, while others have keyhole shapes that appear almost like Magic Eye illusions at their centers. These central portals, according to the artist, might unlock our beliefs or the mysteries of the unknown, potentially serving as doorways to another time or place. The widow figure, inspired by the gravestones, is depicted in graceful facial profiles and hands. Kappos views her as someone who is not only left behind but might be a spectre herself—endowed with power, magic, and the ability to bridge two worlds.
Piercing the Veil opens on May 15 and runs through June 27 in New York City. More of Kappos’ work can be seen on her Instagram.
