Scott Indrisek profiles painter Gina Beavers whose paintings were recently on view at Retrospective Gallery, Hudson, New York.

Indrisek writes that Beavers'"paintings aren’t simple reproductions of the ubiquitous 'this is what I ate today' images shared via social media. 'If I paint something directly from a photo it looks like a copy,' she explained. Beavers constructs a base for the image, generally using thickened acrylic medium that she carves and moves with a simple plastic deli knife. Once the representative shapes are built, she paints on top of them; the finished works have a lumpy, physical quality, as if you could indeed scoop them off the wall and devour them. The artist mixes in various other agents in order to achieve specific effects, like the dappled skin on raw duck legs. Beaver’s topographic surfaces have a gnarly depth, flirting with intentional kitsch, a bit like the dimensional tableaux of Lynn Foulkes. 'Building up [the work] interferes with my ability,' she said. 'It looks a little more handmade. The painting is trying to mess with me, and I’m trying to calm and tame it.'"