Julian Kreimer interviews painter Elena Sisto on the occasion of the exhibtion Between Silver Light and Orange Shadow: Paintings by Elena Sisto at Lori Bookstein Fine Art, New York, on view through May 25, 2013.

Asked about the "line between abstraction and figuration," Sisto comments: "To say a painting is abstract doesn't necessarily mean it has no figures in it; it means that it's constructed abstractly. We're living in a moment when we see so many images all the time. People are looking at them iconographically. There's a lot more to a painting than just how the iconography reads. That's why it's very important to me if someone goes up close to my painting. When you look at one of my paintings, I want you to look at it and say, "Oh, I know what that is." And as soon as you start looking at it, the abstraction carries your eye off in an unexpected way."