A first encounter with the artworks of artist Emma Velde Schaffer can be deceptive with a rush of pleasure from the knowing, interlaced abstract structure of brightly hued harmonic shapes dancing across the surface of the canvases.  Velde displays a kind of knowing about the relationships of elements both representational and purely abstract as they appear and disappear into the imagination of the viewer.

It seems that the embedded imagery yields a kind of yearning for memory.  I mention that the artwork is deceptively beautiful but not in a duplicitous sense, rather there is another deeper feeling that emerges that is not obvious at first.  After spending time with the work, traces of linear outlines of figures and fragments of figures emerge from behind sensuous liquid veils of color.  This shifts the skillful use of saturated color and juxtaposes simultaneous sensations that evoke the impermanence of time.

The paintings often show open areas around the edges of the canvas and gaps between layers that generously allow the viewer access to the depths of the sensuous layers of built up color and texture. One then starts to feel what is absent from the paintings as well as what is present.  This precipitates an emotional pull that emerges over time, as if time itself is an unseen subject along with what is seen on the surface.

One is intrigued by the mystery of the combination of almost seen personages within the artworks that appear to dissolve before our eyes.  Is it a slyness, a shyness or is it a gentle embrace of emotional resonance with the fleeting nature of life. Perhaps a loving gesture for a life lived as fully as possible.

Time and again one catches the glimpse of parts of a figure looking back at the viewer, or the trace of a child moving through space that encourages exploration.  The sense that something is in the state of becoming, yet not fully determined gives the work an immediacy that feels vital.

Within the modulated harmonic layers of color Velde often embeds gold leaf within the artworks. Its presence with the paintings is significant. The rarity of gold on Earth has given this metal an elevated status has a harbinger of power.  Gold is not native to planet Earth, gold comes from extreme cosmic events like neutron star collisions and supernova explosions, and arrived on Earth via ancient meteorite impacts. Most of Earth's original gold sank to the planet's core, while the gold we mine today was delivered to the crust later and pushed into surface veins by water and tectonic forces. 

This primordial link to the creation of Earth can also be seen in the swirling compositions within Velde’s paintings, where clouds and veils of color are in the process of combining or dissolving into nebulae of painted shapes.  The sense of motion is palpable along with a sense of stillness.  This is yet another visual juxtaposition that lends mystery and power to the work.

The formal use of variable space within the structure of the paintings is an effective aesthetic approach and seems influenced by modernist painting motifs, calligraphic traditions as well as indigenous traditions of pictographic textiles.

Henry Mandell
New York City 2026