Caught You

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on January 31, 2014 at 8:16pm

Curator’s Comments: 

 

These new portraits of a risqué costumed figure are oddly positioned in the natural landscape.  The ample green foliage seems to call attention to, and accentuate, the exaggerated ‘natural’ attributes of the model.  Caught You in the same way employs the clever push and pull of Burlesque’s directly confrontational gaze with a voyeuristic shielding of the crossing tree branches.  The subject is further made animalistic in her cat like stalking pose.  I find the red and white candy striped hat and stockings to border on the absurd in contextual absence of the former nightclub environment, but I also can’t deny understanding a certain appeal in the sexualized handling of the figure, and titillating peek at flesh under lace.  Lollipop Field, presumably of the same model on a smaller scale, seems much looser stylistically. Without the tight pictorial realism, and perhaps because of the casual pose, the piece demonstrates a certain feminine vulnerability. Leaning back on her hands away from the viewer, the figure is reticent despite her garish costume and fancifully festooned candy lawn.  I’m also struck by the large black high heels; splayed out in front of her, I’m reminded of a girl playing dress up in inoperative shoes.  Both works masterfully manipulate the viewer, as the painting craft disappears into the conflicting emotional sway of the vicarious sentiment. Thanks for sharing these new paintings.