Nora Sturges | Two Coats of Paint
July 7, 2025 | Mark Wethli
Nora Sturges’ Sublime Dystopia
“Edgy” is a word we commonly use to describe daring or provocative art. If anything has been a measure of artistic success in the modern era, it’s been the degree to which new art pushes the boundaries of the work that came before. The term is usually rooted in the theoretical and formal aspects of art making, but the paintings of Nora Sturges – now on view at Sarah Bouchard Gallery in Woolwich, Maine – transport us to edges of another kind: meticulous, high-resolution images of barren landscapes at the outskirts of civilization, populated by enigmatic, abandoned structures, often unfinished. Entirely make-believe but inspired by actual locations near her home in Baltimore, Sturges’ paintings present a metaphorical vision of life at the far reaches of both the physical world and the imagination. They also resonate compellingly with the precarious moment in which we find ourselves today.
