Cyclops 2005
Oil on Canvas 35 x 40 cm
Frieze Art Fair
21 October 2005
I have only seen this artists work twice, once at the Frieze Art Fair in London and then a small exhibition of her work in the members room at Tate Modern. There were three small paintings at Frieze on the Fons Walters stand (her gallery in Amsterdam). The work in Tate Modern was even smaller consisted of hundreds of delicate miniscule images that looked like ink or oil on “Scotch” tape.
I found her work interesting for the unusual supports that she uses, that make the paintings and drawings seem almost disposable. She has also worked on transparencies, glass slides, and Post-It notes. All featuring lone figures engaged in solitary pursuits.
21 October 2005
I have only seen this artists work twice, once at the Frieze Art Fair in London and then a small exhibition of her work in the members room at Tate Modern. There were three small paintings at Frieze on the Fons Walters stand (her gallery in Amsterdam). The work in Tate Modern was even smaller consisted of hundreds of delicate miniscule images that looked like ink or oil on “Scotch” tape.
I found her work interesting for the unusual supports that she uses, that make the paintings and drawings seem almost disposable. She has also worked on transparencies, glass slides, and Post-It notes. All featuring lone figures engaged in solitary pursuits.
I have picked a painting from the paintings on show at Frieze that is typical of her work. It shows a solitary man with a small rucksack looking into a plate glass window. The man holds his hand to the side of his head to shield his eyes from the glare and like the figures in most of her work, we cannot see the face, only the reflection of his body. This gesture keeps us guessing at the identity of the protagonist whilst at the same time the small size of the figure draws us into an intimate relationship with the image. It is a private moment that we are witness to, one we have all experienced.
Her work reminds me of the paintings of Luc Tuymans, not just because of the chalky paint, but also the ambiguity of the images and the way a grouping of a number of small works together strengthens and reinforces the isolation within each image.
The title references the one eyed giants of Greek Mythology, but the narrative possibilities remain very open. It could be about desire and longing for the unobtainable items that he cannot see within the shop display or it could just be about curiosity. In a moment he will turn away and walk on, and this transience of everyday actions is also a recurring feature in her work which together with the isolation creates an atmosphere of alienation. The emptiness of the scene speaks of the emotional disposition of a melancholic, who according to Walter Benjamin thinks of the desolate “emptied world so as to take pleasure in its sight”.[1]
[1] Benjamin, Walter The Origin of German Tragic Drama, NLB London 1977 Trans John Osbourne p318
©blackdog 2009
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