“Better Than Revenge" is a selection of oil paintings by Kailyn Perry that use recognizable Chicago landscapes as a backdrop for personal anxiety and apocalyptic fears. The work is influenced by 19th-century French Impressionism and plein-air painting. Water, specifically Lake Michigan, is a continuous theme throughout the work. The lake’s surface is both placid and erratic: mirroring the outward appearances of composure, while pointing to depths that are turbulent.

Throughout the paintings, femininity is explored. This idea is depicted with purposely stereotypical hysteric imagery: screaming women with red lipstick that is emphatically smudged. Women are often invalidated and not believed. This phenomenon ripples through daily life like a wave: eroding any sense of power. Together, this imagery shows deeply personal stakes, within a world leaning towards collapse. City architecture looms starkly over neon pink sunsets, waves crash violently upon the shoreline, and artificial city lights eerily illuminate the night sky.…