Karyn Lyons The Afternoon in August, 2023 (Detail)
About
With a fondness for the exciting and disturbing emotional currents that charge adolescence, Karyn Lyons’s paintings act as remembrances—goodbyes to those unbridled moments of girlhood. Smoldering and pining, Lyons weaves fantasy with the autobiographical to compose imaginative scenes of those complicated, not-yet-tamed between-times of exploration and discovery. A former art director in the fashion industry, the New York-based painter captures teen girls engaging with love and life. Her sense of composition depicts moments of intimacy juxtaposed against those complicated between-times of exploration, discovery, and resolution. Mysterious and romantic—these pictures are exorcisms of desire, of those luscious days when all you could do was sit by the phone and hope you didn’t miss the call.
Karyn Lyons (b. New Haven, CT) received a BA in Journalism from the American University in Washington, D.C.. She did post-graduate studies at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles/New York; Timothy Taylor, New York, NY; TURN Gallery, New York, NY; Stems, Paris/Brussels; Carl Kostyál, Milan; and Friends Indeed Gallery, San Francisco, CA; among others. Lyons lives and works in New York City, NY.
Marisa Adesman & Karyn Lyons Explored ‘Demure’ Long Before TikTok Trend Did
A similar ambiguity colored the domestic tableaux of Marisa Adesman’s last show at Anat Ebgi. In these paintings, the rooms of the home become a stage for nightmarish theater, full of gendered innuendos and Freudian haunts. Dining room forks are bent in erotic poses or twisted into violent instruments. Kitchen candles light themselves. A woman is made of flesh one instant, turned into a translucent vessel the next. “Who is she?” the 29-year-old artist asks of this recurring figure, still unsure of the answer herself. “Is she in service of the household or is she working against it?” —Taylor Dafoe
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One painting, The Dominion of Night (2024) is a nod to René Magritte’s The Empire of Light, pictures the exterior of a stately home at night, only the upstairs windows lights on. The curtains are provocatively drawn back. In one sense we can imagine this house as the soon-to-be adult protagonist’s home and her dollhouse at once, a space in which she tries on grown-up vices and pleasures—sneaking a cigarette or shots of Smirnoff while waiting, as though on a long summer day, for real-life to find her. —Artnet News
These canvases, primarily oils on linen, with several works on vellum, illustrate and memorialize scenes of her youth, whether that’s a quiet moment with a sweet treat in The Lemon Italian Ice (2023) or a long-forgotten hook-up in A Crush on Byron (2023). Other works place her age, such as her painting Dream Date (2023), featuring a young girl standing in front of a David Bowie poster. Through her work, Lyons explores themes of autonomy and longing, with subjects often depicted in moments of solitude or subtle rebellion. Here, she pays homage to a younger version of herself through these scenes of early introspection and exploration. —Maxwell Rabb
Drawing inspiration from film and art history, Karyn Lyons’ wistful, evocative oil paintings of teenage girlhood are charged with coming-of-age romanticism. In her first solo exhibition at Anat Ebgi, “The End of the Night,” New York-based Lyons presents a suite of intimately scaled, semi-autobiographical oil paintings that capture the tenderness, mischievousness, and enchantment of a bygone adolescence. —Catherine Yang
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Imposter." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 51" x 38 ¹⁄₂" [HxW] (129.54 x 97.79 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Karyn-Lyons_KL1014_1732319419.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Lemon Italian Ice." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 22 ¹⁄₄" x 18" [HxW] (56.52 x 45.72 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1012_1706999442.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "Dream Date." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 17 ³⁄₄" x 14" [HxW] (45.09 x 35.56 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1011_1706999445.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Land of Nod." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures Framed 20" x 17 ¹⁄₄" x 1 ¹⁄₂" [HxWxD] (50.8 x 43.82 x 3.81 cm); Unframed 15 ¹⁄₂" x 12 ³⁄₄" [HxW] (39.37 x 32.39 cm). Its medium is Oil on vellum.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1002_1706999474.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Afternoon in August." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 23" x 29" [HxW] (58.42 x 73.66 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1010_1706999449.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Dominion of Night." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 53" x 73 ³⁄₄" [HxW] (134.62 x 187.33 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1009_1706999452.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Bright Midnight." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 30" x 23 ¹⁄₂" [HxW] (76.2 x 59.69 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1008_1706999455.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "A Crush on Byron." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 18" x 22 ¹⁄₄" [HxW] (45.72 x 56.52 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1007_1706999460.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Peeping Tom." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures Framed 16 ¹⁄₄" x 13 ¹⁄₄" x 1 ¹⁄₂" [HxWxD] (41.28 x 33.66 x 3.81 cm); Unframed 11 ¹⁄₂" x 8 ¹⁄₂" [HxW] (29.21 x 21.59 cm). Its medium is Oil on vellum.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1004_1706999467.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Mystery Down the Hall." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 22" x 16" [HxW] (55.88 x 40.64 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1006_1706999463.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Bruise." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures Framed 19 ¹⁄₂" x 15 ¹⁄₂" x 1 ¹⁄₂" [HxWxD] (49.53 x 39.37 x 3.81 cm); Unframed 15" x 11" [HxW] (38.1 x 27.94 cm). Its medium is Oil on vellum.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karen-Lyons_KL1003_1706999471.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "When the sun goes low and you’re home all alone." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 23" x 17 ¹⁄₄" [HxW] (58.42 x 43.82 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Karyn-Lyons_KL1001_1706999486.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Karyn Lyons titled "The Rum and Coke." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 17 ³⁄₄" x 13 ¹⁄₂" [HxW] (45.09 x 34.29 cm). Its medium is Oil on linen.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Karyn-Lyons_KL1000_1681237347.jpg)
