Nestled on the 3rd floor of 209 Canal Street, off a particularly bustling block in Chinatown, is a show of Elisa Jensen’s paintings titled Invitation politely, at Astor Weeks Gallery. These works echo Bonnard’s complex compositions with windows and the depth of space in Vuillard’s work. The paintings are various memories of places close to the artist’s heart: her home in Brooklyn, the house of her late parents that no longer stands, and her aunt and uncle’s home in Denmark. Jensen knows how to whisper through paint and tell a quiet poem in scumbles, with a profound feeling of color. Her playful use of iridescent paint leaves the paintings to be experienced as they change drastically with subtle shifts in lighting. It is as if each painting carries many versions of itself throughout the course of the day, as the light changes.
The attention to the windows introduces the viewer to multiple worlds at once, but the vantage point from which the audience is viewing is dark. The perspective is often unusual, as in Riverview Interior, Early Spring. The interiors in Elisa Jensen’s paintings are quiet, but they are far from empty. The undertone is nostalgic with a touch of loneliness. In this show, there are no figures, but the perspective of the gaze is evident in the paintings with an angled view, as if leaning back or lying down. Naturally, this forces one to look beyond, deep into the distance. The space is particularly distant in Ejerslevvej Interior and Riverview Bedroom, paintings of the artist’s childhood bedroom, where the focal point is at the farthest point of the composition.
In the interiors, there is a sense of inhabitance in Jensen’s rooms, filled with the subtle weight of precious, personal memories tied to space. Candle on Ellen’s Table, the most recent painting in the show, is large-scale and evokes feelings of invitation with a candle still burning at the table. The empty chair almost feels still warm from its previous occupant. Soft light, complex colors, and carefully arranged perspective and objects create an atmosphere where time seems to slow, inviting the viewer to linger. These rooms avoid loud drama, but are bubbling with lived experience.
Jensen’s technique appears drawn at times, as if there is the use of pastel or oil stick. She uses congealed, semi-dry paint to accomplish that effect, which in turn gives her surfaces texture and vibrancy. The surfaces are layered and reworked, although at no point are they labored. Her brushstroke is visible and tactile but applied fairly thin, often scraped. Iridescence appears in the few spots where light would catch, such as the edge of a window pane or the sparkling water of the river. It is a sweet surprise, especially as it is easy to dismiss. There are nods to form, but she allows the eye to bring the object to completion. Elisa Jensen’s mastery of painting allows her to say a lot with very little, as Edouard Vuillard often does. She has full command of her brushstroke with a deep knowledge of color interactions.
Her work recalls the ideas of Gaston Bachelard in The Poetics of Space, where he examines intimate, lived spaces and the meaning of windows, corridors, and corners. These spaces become vessels for memory and imagination. Bachelard writes about the house not just as a physical structure, but as a psychological one, shaped by the experiences we project onto it. In this sense, Jensen’s interiors are just about that, where memory and space are inseparable.
In these paintings, time seems to slow in a way that feels almost tangible, the moment of a breath and contemplation that knows it will become a memory. There is no urgency or sense of before and after, only an extended present that invites quiet attention. Light lingers on surfaces, and shadows settle in deep color, holding her viewer captive for a still minute in this crazy world.
Elisa Jensen, Invitation at Astor Weeks, 209 Canal Street, Third Floor, New York, NY.
March 12 – April 11, 2026, Thur – Sat, 12 – 6 PM.
About the writer: Anna Shukeylo (b. St. Petersburg, Russia) is an artist working and living in the New York Metropolitan area. She graduated from Pratt Institute with her MFA in Painting and from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with a BFA/Certificate in Painting. Her work has been exhibited throughout New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, and internationally.