Sandy Holubow paints houses in Old Town and Lincoln Park–on canvas. “A house is really a metaphor for the self,” she says. “It can be a mask. A house is as important as a face, or the way we dress. That’s what holds my interest.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Her houses are painted at different times of day and from different perspectives, depending on what Holubow is trying to evoke with her paintbrush. Some houses are painted with dark windows, or with a portion of the structure not showing, to give them a sinister look. “My Forkosh house is tan, beige, and white, and I captured it at sundown, which gives it a purple glow and distorted color. The whole house looks eerie. And I have all the lights on in the house, but you can’t see any activity. What is it you don’t know about that’s going on inside?”
She has been an artist all her life, but Holubow took up painting just a few years ago. Her first work was in graphic design and silk screen. “I was always intimidated by the great painters and their paintings,” she says. “My earliest exposure to painting was to the greats–the French impressionists–and I knew I could never be them. So instead, I did graphics and printmaking. With those you can experiment so easily and forge your own route.”
Today, Holubow says, she is consumed and committed to what she does. “I try to evoke curiosity and interest from viewers. I paint [my houses] so a person wants to know more about what’s going on inside. I stir people up with my paintings. The houses become an enigma–like Mona Lisa’s smile.
