French poet Comte de Lautréamont’s famous description, “beautiful as a chance encounter on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella,” came to mind when I encountered the exhibition Abigail Dudley and Elise Siegel: Painting and Sculpture, at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects. I am glad that I didn’t read the press release, which tells us that the exhibition is the first time the pair has been shown together, and that “their practices are in close conversation,” until after I saw the work. Their works are much more expansive than the directive of the text.I initially thought of the pairing of Dudley and Siegel as two artists having solo shows in a narrow space. Originally, I went to look at Dudley’s paintings, as I have been following her career since I first saw her work in the 2023 Miami University Young Painters Competition, for which I was the juror. But seeing Siegel’s ceramic busts for the first time was an unexpected revelation. Dudley is an observational painter who, over the past three years, keeps finding ways to dissolve the boundaries between the seen and imagined, as well as attain a fluid space in which the near and far, observable and the dream-like, can believably coexist. I don’t know if Henri Matisse’s “The Red Studio” (1911) is one of her inspirations, but she seems to be moving along a parallel path in some of her recent paintings, such as “Farmer’s Market Bouquet,” “Four Faces,” and “Studio in Spring” (all dated 2025).Abigail Dudley, “Farmer’s Market Bouquet” (2025), oil on linenIn “Farmer’s Market Bouquet,” Dudley utilizes the painting’s rectangular format to frame a deep room, while simultaneously depicting six four-sided objects of varying sizes to underscore the painting’s two-dimensional surface in different ways. A large square is tucked in the lower left-hand corner. A bouquet of red, yellow, orange, and white flowers in a glass jar is set against the square’s pink and yellow ground. The contradiction of the shadow cast by the jar’s bottom and the flatness of the flowers raises a question: Are we looking at a still-life arrangement, or a painting of one, or — the more likely case — both? This contradiction is enhanced by the shadow the wooden floor to the right of the square casts on a blue rug below it.In “Farmer’s Market Bouquet,” “Four Faces,” and “Studio in Spring,” Dudley finds different ways to explore and imaginatively tweak the relationship of a room’s box-like space to the painting’s two-dimensional surface. She loves depicting things, from dirty paintbrushes and cans to plaster casts to flowers, but that devotion isn’t the driving force behind her paintings. Rather, it is the astute inclination to explore different formal possibilities while following an internal logic that makes her more than a very good observational artist. Indeed, Dudley’s artistic ambition, deep engagement with art history, restlessness, and sensitive, masterful paint handling, prime her to become a major artist who is able to transform her conventional education into something unexpected and compelling. Left: Abigail Dudley, “Studio in Spring” (2025); right: Elise Siegel, “Black and Pale Blue Portrait Bust with Hollow Eyes” (2018)I did not focus on any connections between Dudley and Siegel until I started writing this review. The first ones that came to mind had to do with their absorption with traditional materials, namely, oil paint and clay, respectively. In addition, they both explore subjects deemed old-fashioned, especially if they are unironic, which they are. Siegel’s works take the form of a bust set on a shelf or an unadorned wood pedestal, done largely in a single color, such as blue, which she uses in many of the works in the show. The busts — whose gender is not evident — are intimately scaled: The largest is around two feet high, and the smallest is around six inches high. The hair is closely cropped, reminiscent of a bonnet or a leather helmet. Siegel wants to direct our attention to the face, eyes, nose, and mouth. The matte glaze makes the heads feel vulnerable, more like skin than ceramic, which Siegel subtly enhances through her attention to telling features and use of different viscosities in her glazes.The eyes are either holes or shallow cavities. The busts are not of individuals because they are unrealistic. And yet, I felt like each one had a particular personality and story to tell. What held my attention, made me look longer and harder, slower, was the silence of their melancholia. “Baby Blue Portrait Bust with Square Eyes” (2018) has small square openings for eyes. The head is erect, proud, elegant, and understated. Blue rivulets ran down the front of its chest, as if the head were bleeding or dissolving or both. Installation view of Abigail Dudley and Elise Siegel: Painting and Sculpture with Elise Siegel, “Baby Blue Portrait Bust with Square Eyes” in foreground (2018)“Portrait Bust with Lavender Hair and Black Base” (2015) is armless. The face is glazed with white, like a layer of frosting, which is echoed by a triangular, bib-like shape extending down from the neck. One layer of black matte glaze extends up from the narrow base, spreading out until the top of its round edge meets the white triangle’s descending point. Everything about this and other works pulls you in deeper, leads to speculation and self-reflection. They don’t feel like busts, but rather mirrors of our broken lives and silence. They emanate pain, muteness, bewilderment, stoicism, and silence. I didn’t know Siegel’s work before this exhibition, but now I will follow it as closely as I can. In my eyes, what Siegel and Dudley share is a tenderness and respect towards their subject, a sense of what remains private.Abigail Dudley, “Gardener’s Gift” (2025), oil on linenAbigail Dudley, “Be Mine” (2025), oil on linenLeft: Elise Siegel, “Gray and White Head” (2018), ceramic, underglazes; right: Elise Siegel, “Iceberg Blue Head with Red Features” (2025), ceramic, underglazes (both photos courtesy Steven Harvey Fine Art Project)Abigail Dudley, “Four Faces” (2025), oil on linenInstallation view of Abigail Dudley and Elise Siegel: Painting and Sculpture, with works by Siegel in the foreground and a painting by Dudley in the backgroundAbigail Dudley, “The Florist and Blue Couch” (2025), oil on linenAbigail Dudley and Elise Siegel: Painting and Sculpture continues at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects (208 Forsyth Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan) through October 15. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.