Femme Focus: Gruppeudstilling

Challenging the restriction of women’s freedom in America, Anne Herrero paints an unyielding, fully nude liberated female, bearing arms in a Midwestern landscape of muted tones. A force to be reckoned with, the woman depicted is her friend Lissa, who routinely hunts naked on her property in Missouri. As an act of freedom and rebellion, Herrero paints women who take fate into their own hands, addressing the roles that women have taken on and inhabited over time. These works serve as powerful allegories of history unfolding, addressing contemporary controversies and prevailing injustices in the states. Born in 1984 in Berkeley, California, Herrero spent most of her summers in Kansas City visiting her mom’s family. Many of her works are set in the American rural landscape which represents a significant part of her life. It is in the sweeping landscapes of the Midwest that Anne explores notions of freedom and equality.

Potential pinnacle moments reflecting ordinary, everyday situations suspended in time present themselves before us in Rebecca Orcutt’s most recent selection of works. For most of us, the everyday consists of routine actions which are done on autopilot without hesitation, forming part of the subconscious mind. Orcutt’s works which zoom in on these moments, allow us to contemplate the subtleties of life. Although we may deem these events insignificant, they are actually great bearers of change. Sometimes life’s biggest events can happen within a millisecond or through an accumulation of moments that may appear static over time. Orcutt presents before us the dilemmas of recognizable subject matter who find themselves in somewhat bizarre, seemingly staged situations. By concentrating on the importance of these instances, Orcutt explores how navigating contemporary society can be like walking a tightrope. In a world where there is an excess of information and a constant reminder of choices to be made, decision-making is no easy task.

A room filled with assorted lamps, antique furniture and plants forms part of the vibrant interior in Emilia Nurmivaara’s most recent painting. Depicting cherished and lived-in interiors, Nurmivaara fondly captures the living memories that are instilled in her childhood home as she welcomes us into these spaces. Inspired by the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard and his book from 1958 The Poetics of Space, Nurmivaara focuses on how buildings and spaces are transformed by the people who inhabit them, she invites us to look inward and evaluate our relationship with the world and the influences that houses, spaces and interiors have on our metaphysical life and the creation of dreams. For many of us, the childhood home is the first space we inhabit in which our imagination comes to life. These spaces in Nurmivaara’s paintings which combine figurative and abstract imagery, serve as an extension of the soul, embodying her memories, dreams and experiences.

In one of Jingyi Wang’s latest paintings, we see a female cactus figure in a cloak of distinctive patterns that represents the Northeastern region of China. The figure’s hair is made up of the red fruits of the prickly pear cactus, an image that reminds Wang of her mother curling her hair, also drawing upon the comedic portrayal of landladies in classic Hong Kong movies. Wang’s works combine memories from her childhood with her own experiences of growth. The cacti in her paintings represent a yearning for her family and hometown after having moved away from home but at the same time symbolize resilience and her own strength and independence in making this journey. By substituting human faces for cacti and depicting them in the clothing from her childhood, Wang’s works tell a meaningful story of nostalgia and the ability to adapt to situations in order to protect oneself when navigating the world.

As technology advances and cities grow, many of us may find that our connection to the natural world becomes more distant, to the point that one day it may exist for us as a distant memory or a mere figment of the imagination. Angela Gram's vibrant transcendental paintings are loaded with psychological, thought-provoking imagery that transports us to multiple realms, a concoction of ancient allegories paired with highly saturated, almost artificial universes. Through her anthropomorphic depictions, she paints surreal, ethereal scenes that speak to a primordial part of the subconscious mind representing a human desire to reconcile this forgotten state. Whether it is through animal forms that describe human behaviors or ideal landscapes peeking out from beyond the horizon, Gram’s works explore a hierarchy between humanity and the marginalization of nature, commenting on the cultural and physical disappearance of this connection to the natural world.

Kilde:
Gallery Poulsen