Lilly Buttitta

MFA Painting, 2025

Longing is a part of the human condition that many struggle with. A small coal kindled to life within us by inevitable loss, longing has me seeking a sense of belonging in the present to take with me into an uncertain future. Moments worth carrying with me are immortalized in my paintings through time spent looking closely, an observational painting practice long-rooted in the history of representational painting.  

I’m interested in the poetry of ordinary scenes, in the quiet interaction of existing within a space and cataloging the intricacies of how light scatters across a surface or the many subtleties housed within a shadow. My most recent body of work, a series of small scale interior paintings of my current home outside Philadelphia, relies heavily on my ability to capture these subtleties quickly before the light changes. The urgency I feel to find form accurately but quickly, reflects the fleeting nature of these transitional spaces. Even returning to a painting at the same time each day does not guarantee me the same conditions, making each session a negotiation between what I have already captured on my surface and the new surprises that greet me with each shift in weather and time. In that way, painting from direct observation allows me to acknowledge the slipperiness of time as we experience it. 

Recording this close looking in small scale paintings speaks to the intimacy of these interactions with every day, ordinary moments that I am making space for. A temperature shift within a stroke of paint or the unraveling form of furniture in a dark room asks us to stop and pay attention. These gestures and observations invite us to move beyond the internal stress of an overthinking mind and experience our surroundings. Thus, my paintings become a proposition for viewers to slow down and observe with care, maybe even wonder, not just within the illusionistic space in my work, but also in their everyday lives.