Simchowitz is pleased to introduce You can’t see it from this far awaya solo exhibition of new works by Lily Ramírez, on view at Hill House in Pasadena. exist You can’t see it from this far awayLily Ramírez sees painting as a space for quiet reflection, a stage where memory, perception and feeling come together. These works are rooted in an ongoing dialogue with the self and reflection on life experiences, unfolding in the form of emotional maps. The function of texture, gesture and color is not decoration but language. Every mark is intentional and carries traces of thoughts, feelings and time.
Ramirez’s intention was not to replicate the natural landscape. Instead, she evokes the emotional atmosphere of remembered places. What emerges is a terrain filtered through memory, hovering between the specific and the shared. The paintings feel deeply personal yet subtly collective, as if they echo beyond her own experience.
For Ramirez, painting cannot exist as a purely formal pursuit. It must be energized by encounter. She creates based on what she sees and hears, and on the moments that shape her inner life. The canvas runs parallel to the page, a space for reflection and translation. Each work has the intimacy of a diary entry, expressed through paint and brushstrokes rather than words.
A quiet tension pervades the exhibition: a feeling of being surrounded by inspiration while still searching for it. Ramirez situates herself within this landscape, both literally and metaphorically, as a participant, witness, and translator. The paintings maintain this dual stance, balancing immersion and reflection, demonstrating that clarity comes not just from distance but from sustained attention.
You can’t see it from this far away Frame distance not as a retreat but as a mode of perspective. Through layered, impastoed surfaces and deliberate marks, Ramirez positions painting as a positioning tool, a means of situating the mind and spirit within ever-changing realms of identity and becoming.
