John Yau reviews works by Jane Corrigan at Kerry Schuss Gallery, New York, on view through October 26, 2014.

Yau writes: "The thing that strikes me about Corrigan’s paintings is the sympathy that she shows for her subjects, who seem to exist in a dream-like domain. They seem to be unaware that they are being watched. This adds to their power because they are not performing for others. At the same time, the artist doesn’t hide their awkwardness, determination and pain… It seems to me that Corrigan… is establishing a territory to further explore. Her use of humor is unlike anyone else’s. She isn’t interested in either slapstick or black humor, anything obvious. The young women clutching their bloody knees elicit our compassion, while the narratives they evoke are fragments with no obvious closure. The sinuous brushstrokes are simultaneously paint and rolling clouds, hills and grass. Everything is fleeting, conveying a world in constant turmoil."