Miami journalist & art critic Janet Batet reviews Vickie Pierre’s new exhibition at Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts.

An intimate atmosphere, a kind of sorrow deeply rooted in the identity, order, sensuality and feminine psychology, surrounds Vickie Pierre’s oeuvre. Her delicate paintings evoke simple organic forms… where the sinuosity and the pastel-like palette accentuate the traditional gender roles imposed by society. The blurred borderlines between abstraction and representation reinforce the ambiguity so dear to her work where nature and reverie go hand by hand. This is the spirit of Pierre’s current solo show: Your Poor, Sweet, Innocent Thing opened at the Diana Lowenstein gallery trough October 3.

Cohabitating with her painting, Pierre offers three delightful installations where the artist makes a perfect copula between vintage rococo-style Syroco brand sconces and perfume bottles collected over the years by her sister. Vestige of childhood and icon of femininity, these kitsch vintage Avon uncovered perfume bottles evoke memories and chimeras. Some of them retain traces of scent that guide us through the reverie, promising the happy encounter with the dreamed prince. Pierre use a visual element to emphasize this idea: gushing cotton waterfalls emerge from the bottles, seconding our imagination. The bottles become magic lamps, makers of dreams.

The use of the color is essential. The white spotless sconces are as whimsical little clouds where cute princesses -the perfume bottles belong to the Disney princesses collection- stands as a broke childhood reverie –uncovered the bottles, only survive the figurines’ skirt, unified by a sparkling golden layer.

The series imposes referential links with Duchamp’s ready-made, and particularly two of his works: Belle haleine: eau de voilette, 1921 and Bottle Rack, 1914; being at the same time a clin d’oeil to other artists that work with same problematic, such as Lorna Simpson, and specifically Wig, 1996.

Your Poor, Sweet, Innocent Thing is a must see.

Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts Gallery: 2043 N Miami Ave, Miami; 305-576-1804; On display through Oct 3.