Small houses in bright colors. Slanted roofs. Large windows opening onto landscapes that do not fully exist. Along the walls appear familiar facades: flowers beside the windows, curtains suggested behind the glass, gardens hinted at with soft brushstrokes. The houses seem recognizable. Almost ordinary. But something changes. They do not touch the ground. They float.
They have been painted or recreated in the middle of unusual landscapes. Hills that resemble clouds. Diffused horizons. Backgrounds where color spreads like memory. The exhibition is titled Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and presents the work of local artist Emily Bicht. The opening reception will take place Saturday, March 14, beginning at 5 p.m., at New Era Creative Space in downtown Peekskill. The gallery, located on Esther Street, will keep the exhibition on view through March 31.
The works belong to the Dream Home series. Bicht draws inspiration from the so-called kit homes of the twentieth century, houses whose plans were sold through catalogs across the United States. Those homes promised access to property and a stable life. For decades, such images represented a national promise: the so-called American Dream.
In Bicht’s work, that promise appears suspended. The houses exist, but they have lost the ground where they should stand. They float in unfamiliar landscapes. The artist recovers those architectural forms and places them in new settings. Suspended in the air, the effect is immediate, almost magical.
The technique is deliberately complex. Each painting combines layers of transfer, acrylic, screen print and oil paint. Some areas display intense and luminous color. Others remain flat, nearly silent. At first glance, it is not always possible to distinguish what has been painted and what has been transferred from another image. The surface confuses the eye.
In several works, a circular element surrounds the house, resembling a viewing port. There, the home becomes something observed from a distance, as if the viewer were looking through a lens or recalling an old photograph. The gesture introduces another layer of interpretation, somewhere between memory and aspiration.
The exhibition also includes sculptures and works that explore scale and domestic objects. Familiar motifs appear transformed through unexpected materials and proportions. The result evokes personal histories but also broader social structures. The home emerges as an intimate space, but also as a cultural construction.
Bicht lives in Peekskill and has participated in artist collectives in the New York area for more than two decades. She earned a BFA from Moore College of Art & Design and an MFA from Brooklyn College. In 2020 she received the New Work Grant from the Queens Council on the Arts. In addition to painting and sculpture, she produces functional ceramics intended for everyday use.
The artist also works as an educator and community organizer in the Hudson Valley. She teaches at several arts centers and participates in local initiatives that connect artistic production with everyday life.
