„OH YOU LOOK SO PRETTY“Acrylics, Graphit, Oil pastel, Pigments, Pencil, Salvia and Thread on Canvas, framed in a custom made... Read More
„OH YOU LOOK SO PRETTY“
Acrylics, Graphit, Oil pastel, Pigments, Pencil, Salvia and Thread on Canvas, framed in a custom made frame, 150x120x5 cm, 2023.
Meaning and position in the oeuvre
This picture is one of the key pieces of the series "Resonating Bodies". In this series, I process statements and comments that I heard repeatedly as a girl, teenager and adult woman and that have shaped me and are still my invisible companions today – often against my will. „My" sentences are examples of all the well-intentioned advice, tips and pseudo-wisdom that women are exposed to all over the world.
We as society even pass them on, without thinking about the damage such statements can cause. We are the vessel in which these sentences reverberate. We set ourselves vibrating with every statement we take in or we express to others. Which statements do we pass on ourselves without being aware of it? What sticks to us – often unnoticed but harmful – and wants to fight its way loudly and violently into the light?
Work process
I keep removing the paint as I create. I scratch and tear the canvas. Sometimes I fix it, sometimes damage remains visible. I write the corresponding statement (always in the worktitle) again and again, paint over it, fight with it until I have finally, finally wrestled it down. Constantly fighting the urge to make the paintings aesthetically beautiful, I use construction brushes with coarse bristles or other painting tools that are not suitable for the fine arts. The only thing I don't compromise on is the pigments, which are of the highest quality.
The paintings in this series imitate the shock of recognition and the resulting defensive struggle. The paint is applied in an eternal fight with the canvas – in hope of final liberation.
