The guests we don’t see is an exhibition inviting viewers to share space with those of the invisible realm. This solo presentation of Isabel Monti’s work features paintings, cyanotypes, and installation. The focal point, central to the room, is a table set for five. For Monti, the (dining) table, typically the hearth of a home,  has always been both a liminal space and a place of grounding. The table is a place to commune with friends, family, and lovers as seen with the work of Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party or Daniel Spoerri’s snare pictures that immortalize shared dinners in resin. In many cultures the table becomes a place of offering and a point that bridging the living and the dead through remembrance of those in the afterlife through sharing of memories, food and secrets.

In this ritual, each plate serves as a placeholder and a summoning timed with the unfolding of autumn, as night gets longer and the veil to the spirit realm thins. Both on the plates and the paintings one finds symbols from Monti’s personal lexicon mixed in with references to Vanitas, the nordic painters tradition of still-lifes. Books symbolized knowledge and enlightenment. Jewelry and mirror symbolizing vanity. Most notably, skulls were used as a memento mori. This new body of work also dives into other visual elements of the table-scape from silverware to beloved dishes, while the floral motifs have a dual context referencing life, death, and beauty but also specifically referencing people in her life.

The paintings, often in groups, evoke memories tethered together in collages. Monti pushes and manipulates old family photos, passed down objects and stories into images that oscillate between abstraction and reality. Hazy in their quality, they leave the viewer wondering if any of this was real or all just a dream.

Photo and image credit: Vorfluter