As Above, So Below
For centuries, astrology has fascinated humankind. The zodiac remains our original psychological profiling tool. The dense imagery of the practice, passed down through the ages, is dicey territory for artists. To be taken seriously, a fine artist must avoid kitsch; illustrating the signs of the horoscope is inevitably an exercise in kitchiness.
But Terri Lloyd goes beyond illustration in these paintings. With a deep comprehension of the personality types each zodiac sign encompasses, she renders the positive and negative attributes as separate sides of the same coin. On arched surfaces, scenes that recall Salvador Dali’s vast landscapes depict the fruitful and intolerable aspects of each sign. And yet, absent the referent, these remain glorious allegorical paintings, sensitively assembled. These paintings tell us who we are and, in their disciplined approach, remind us of what we can become.
—Mat Gleason
