Lilian Broca
Lilith Budding Her Way Up Through the Earth's Story, 1999

a curatorial statement

Letia Richardson

Art is born as a result of an agitated negotiation with reality.

In the early 1980's, Lilian Broca changed her art work from abstracting images to a more representational style. This was done at a time when conceptual and photo-based art tended to attract the most attention in public galleries and critical press. Coinciding with her shift to realism, she began a new search for subjects and techniques. During the intervening 2 decades she developed several series exploring relationships, brides, goddesses and more recently Lilith. The quote "art is born as a result of an agitated negotiation with reality" describes Lilian's determined and committed pursuit of her own unique subject and technique. This probe roots her work strongly in Western art and her subjects in a Christian-Judaic tradition with a turn-to-the-21st century twist

Beginning with the Brides series, Broca focused more and more from the female point-of-view. Many of these works converged around the bride questioning her identity, changing role, sexual entrapment and unwanted children after marriage. However it was in the goddess series that the artist explored the socialization of women through myths and discovered Lilith. In Lilith, woman is both good and evil but at all times she is strong, independent and decisive. With the diverse dimensions of Lilith, the artist found rich material to express contemporary ideas of woman, her position and role in society. It is also in this last series that Broca¹s focus on woman has captured a more universal meaning where woman represents humankind.

In the 1999 work Lilith's Sanctuary, the artist portrays Lilith in a cold rocky niche. She is lying womb-like, wings folded, making her home in a hostile place. As the Judaic myth tells, Lilith the first wife of Adam left the Garden of Eden to live her own separate life rather than subject herself to the dominance of Adam. Since they were both made from dust, Lilith considered herself and Adam equal. When Adam demanded submission she called God's name, an act of defiance because it was forbidden, and flew away. The artist shows woman's strength, determination and autonomy. In the broader reading, Broca sees the woman as a symbol of humankind, alienated in a hostile environment with an uncertain future; very much the angst expressed in popular media at the close of the century and the beginning of a new millennium.

It is in these recent works that Broca has subtly modified her technique, a skillful transition adding poignancy to her subjects. For some time the artist thickly layered spackle on paper or door skin. She sanded and gouged the surface making it appear ancient and yet contemporary when she drew late 20th century gym-fit women's bodies. Broca predominantly worked in graphite sometimes colouring sections with acrylics and applying gold leaf or occasionally painting the whole surface. In the recent works, she still uses the spackled surface but has reduced her palette to black and white. The shading is less dense and linear; instead large sections with only suggested form contrast against lush black areas built up by smudging graphite directly in the spackle. Broca has also increased the overall scale. The very size of these drawings shouts a presence demanding the viewer¹s attention. In developing her technique even further Broca uses large spans of agitated space around the figures accenting their adverse and remote state.

Lilith's Arrival and Lilith and Woman act as transitional pieces between the works in this exhibition and Broca's new direction. In the first work, Lilith hovers over a sleeping woman bringing knowledge, symbolized by the candle, that woman's role is shaped by traditional myths. The implication is that symbolic characteristics of Eve and Lilith, both wives of Adam, one submissive and the other independent, are passed down through time and have become prototypes prescribing women's conduct. An even more poignant statement about the human condition is made in Lilith and Woman. It shows 2 women, Lilith and another woman turned away from each other with arms outstretched almost meeting but not touching. The figures' position and gestures imply a potential harmonious merging of the 2 visions of woman. Closer scrutiny indicates an alternative message. The rock where they sit drops away into a void; there are turbulent clouds in the sky. Suddenly what appeared to be an empathetic relationship is one of no reconciliation; they are suspended in mutual exclusivity.

From this pivotal point in Broca's development, the selected works in this exhibition can now be seen as the solid foundation from which her new work evolves. The First Couple, Lilith Leaving Adam's Bed and Nocturnal Visit are artistic expressions of the common knowledge about humankind's first couple. With Lilith and Eve, Broca adds more layers of meaning. It shows a cowering and distrustful Eve after the Fall; in contrast on the right is the self-assured Lilith flaunting her sexuality and freedom. The shrouded Eve is framed in gold reminiscent of icons; Lilith is beautiful and seductive. Broca succinctly expresses this submissive and aggressive vision of women mythically passed down through centuries in Judaic-Christian literature and invites the viewer to chose. A careful reading of the work reveals the artist'sbias for Lilith. Lilith at the Red Sea, Revengeful Lilith and Lilith with Baby and Nest show the demonic Lilith. In these works, the artist dramatically portrays Lilith's dilemma. For her sovereignty, she is isolated living alone; her children condemned to be demons. Lilith with Eve and Adam further emphasizes the entrapment of Lilith. In this double framed work, Lilith is blocked off in a confined space, painted in red tones symbolizing her rage while Adam and Eve lie out in a tranquil sensuous coupling.

Broca's insistence on drawing the human figure places her work firmly in the contemporary context and her historical art training enriches her expression. Her sensibility more closely aligns with late 19th century Symbolists while her aesthetics allude to classic Western mainstream works like Edouard Manet's Olympia, Henry Fuseli's Dream of Belinda and Franz von Stuck's Sensuality. Incised spackle panels, gold leaf and classical figures conjure images from ancient wall paintings and yet there is no doubt that they belong to late 20th century. The technique is refined making it a servant to the artist's statement; compositions are dramatic with interlocking triangles and increasingly the mark on the surface is merely the quiet vehicle for a powerful statement. Broca's analytical mind has helped clarify her statement and negotiate with reality.

Letia Richardson is a researcher/writer in the arts specializing in west coast Canadian artists.
Reproduction prohibited without the authorization of writer. June 9 2000