Mary Henderson sources material from social media and photo-sharing websites in her new series Sunday Paintings, on at Lyons Wier Gallery through March 29.  She focuses on the leisure activities of her peers and “fellow gentrifiers,” the well-educated, middle-class, neophyte city dweller – active and happy in privileged activities. (Above: Broad Street Run)

Henderson’s oil paintings convey apparent urban utopias such as city parks, brunch spots, dog runs and markets. (Above: Urban Garden / Below: Farmer’s Market) But there are contradictions here.

“The work depicts the pleasures of these environments, but also seeks out the unguarded moments of reflection, preoccupation or disengagement,” exhibition notes explain. “There is an obvious contradictory quality in these leisurely compositions, a palpable sense of detachment with undercurrents of self-doubt, anonymity and status anxiety.”

Above: Boot Camp / Below: Brunch

Mary Henderson received her BA in Fine Arts from Amherst College in Amherst, MA (1995), and her MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA (2001). Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including Mirror Mirror: Contemporary Portraits and the Fugitive Self, at The Museum of Art, Brigham Young University. Mary Henderson is based in Philadelphia. The exhibition page at Lyons Wier Gallery is here.