Telling Tales
The figure is one of the classic images in paintings, ranging from simple sketches that hone in on the anatomy to large-scale narratives that are relatable or otherworldly. In the April exhibition, The Art of the Figure, at RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton, New York, four artists— Aneka Ingold, Daniela Werneck, Geoffrey Laurence and Tor-Arne Moen—will present artwork that often melds the classic and contemporary. The pieces will dive into age-old techniques, while the stories and themes are often rooted in today’s world.
Werneck’s paintings in the show, such as Crown and Crows and I am More Than My Story, reflect a subject that is personal for the artist. “For the past few years, children in foster care have been the main inspiration for many of my paintings. After having an 11-year-old foster girl placed in my home, I experienced a very difficult and delicate moment in my life that opened my eyes to see that the world of these children is even more empty and harder than I imagined,” she says. Symbols in the paintings show the loneliness and confusion, as well as the hope and dreams these children have.
The artist adds, “Although I was inspired by these children my paintings can easily speak to the viewer as their own life experience. Who never felt alone, confused or less important in life? We all come through difficult moments and we all have dreams and hope.”
The Blue Fan is part of Laurence’s ongoing series that pays homage to artists he has admired since childhood. In the background of the work, he captures some direct referral to the artist and attempts to paint in a similar manner as the original. “The Blue Fan came about when I had met a model who looked very similar to the Tahitian girls in Gauguin’s paintings. I have always been utterly entranced by the strange sense of mystery and the moody colors in Gauguin’s paintings of what was, in actuality by the time he lived there, an imaginary Tahiti that was completely fictitious,” he says. “I made a compositional reference to one of my favorites of his paintings: Girl With A Fan of 1902. Gauguin painted Tohotaua holding a fan; she was the wife of the local witch doctor at Hiva Oa where Gauguin lived and ultimately died. In The Blue Fan, I added my own twist using light flickering across the ornate gilded chair and a closer framing than in his composition, accentuating the shadows with cropped lighting to increase the sense of mystery. I used a combination of references from two other of Gauguin’s paintings in the background.”
Ingold painted Fruitfulness while she was pregnant with her daughter Iris, and it reflects the states of motherhood she experienced. For instance, “The woman is holding a brain, which symbolizes the separation a woman can
feel of mind and body at that time. While the body is busy changing and evolving, doing the amazing work of developing a human being, there can be a mental state of calm, composure and stillness. On her dress we see the pattern of marks made as she is quietly counting down the days to the birth of her child.”
Another of her paintings, The Heart of Frida, is a tribute to Mexican-born artist Frida Kahlo. “She was a woman of exotic beauty, elegance and passion. While working on this piece, I spent time examining her life and her work,” says Ingold. “I was deeply inspired by her extreme perseverance in her fight for her political causes, her ability to live outside of the confines of society and her power to overcome injury and pain.”
Moen’s Circus Nights adds a touch of whimsy to the exhibition. “The painting could just as well have been named The Fish Tamer,” says the artist. “In the picture we see a male lion with a monarchical mane, sitting quietly watching a scene, a woman training a shoal of perches, like he was hypnotized. Whether it is the shoal of fish, or the woman who dominates it, he is most spellbound by, is hard to tell, but the narrative of the image is symbolically saturated. It appears very tranquil, except for the movement of the perches that swim in circle through a picture frame and a hoop held by the fish tamer.”
Just as with the other works in the show, there are elements that make the story more than meets the eye. “The picture frame suggests a representation of art, the hoop points out that this is a performance, something you would expect in an old-fashioned circus, and the fish swimming in the air tells of freedom, while pushing the painting inexorably in a surrealistic direction,” says Moen. “The lion with the human eyes and the woman showing off her magical abilities to him, and no one else, invites the spectator to see the love motif, which is by no means obvious. The fact that the green dressed fish tamer is the painter’s great love, and that of the lion having the painter’s traits, tells a story we have yet to finish.”
The Art of the Figure will hang at the gallery April 18 through May 17.