Etty Yaniv reviews Karen Schwartz: Down the Rabbit Hole and works on paper by Margrit Lewczuk at Life on Mars Gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn, on view through May 31, 2015.

Yaniv writes that Schwartz's paintings "conjure a sense of grief with the gusto of life. Equipped with her intense inward gaze as a professional therapist, Schwartz does not shy away from personal references to her mother’s unexpected illness and passing last year. Her canvas surfaces resemble a battleground of mark-making; layer upon layer of intense colors, lines, scrapes and voids, suggesting images of abstracted human figures, animals and sometimes cultural icons… [Lewczuk's] collages pair well with Schwartz’s paintings. Much smaller and calmer in mood, Lewczuk’s collages utilize media such as markers and color pencils on layered paper. They resemble elegant, textured and richly colored illuminated manuscripts, drawing upon a wide range of references which allude to the merging of different religions and cultures."