The In-Between Worlds of Larissa Borteh

Art Review

In the artist’s paintings, are we looking at plants in a state of beautiful decay, ghosts, deities, fairylands, or something from a dream?

Larissa Borteh, “Glass House” (2025), oil on canvas (all photos courtesy Devening Projects)

CHICAGO — Larissa Borteh’s work was unfamiliar to me when I first encountered her paintings at Devening Projects, an artist-led gallery known for showcasing the early exhibitions of artists like Peter Shear and Sean Sullivan. Borteh’s use of images and elongated marks evoked memories of fingerpainting. Her art, crafted with thinned, viscous oil paint, gracefully shifts between still life and ethereal abstractions. Are we observing plants in a state of graceful decline, or do her paintings evoke ghosts, deities, magical realms, or dreamscapes? Borteh’s creations are ever-changing, leaving us uncertain of their final form. Her distinctive approach to materials stands out in a time when many artists treat paint merely as a tool.

The exhibition features twelve paintings, ranging in size from 16 x 20 inches (~41 x 51 cm) to 60 x 72 inches (~1.5 x 1.8 m). These pieces are not only about their often elusive subjects but also about the exploration of color. In “Tending and Receiving” (2026), Borteh applies a semi-transparent magenta ground of varying densities, upon which she paints two plant containers. A diagonal rift with visible angled brushstrokes rises from the bottom right edge, separating them from what could be a third container.

The paint’s viscosity and the brush trails animate the entire canvas. On the left, two green stalks grow from a large semi-transparent pot, anchoring the composition. We measure the legibility of the rest against this reference point. Borteh’s paintings explore the balance between visibility and opacity. As we view the world, we instinctively identify what we see based on past experiences, though we are not always correct.

In “Glass House” (2025), one of the two larger pieces in the exhibition, three ghostly forms float against a peaceful, pale blue-and-white sky-like backdrop. The most distinct form, on the far left, consists of precise white smears resembling a skull with teeth. Again, we measure the legibility of the other forms against this skull, whose wispy lines seem on the verge of vanishing. This might reflect our understanding or misunderstanding in daily life—a testament to how real and imagined visions haunt us and how disoriented we feel navigating the world. Borteh’s paintings remind us that, regardless of our location or actions, we are enveloped by beauty, decay, change, and unrest.

Larissa Borteh: In the Wind is on display at Devening Projects (3039 West Carroll Avenue, Chicago) until June 13. The exhibition is organized by the gallery.