Soft Furnishings

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on August 9, 2022 at 4:59pm

Curator’s Comments:

 

The drawing Soft Furnishings appeared randomly on the site, despite it being created back in 2014.  The modulated textures in the figure’s pink stockinged leg and background at first appeared digitalized, because of the textural handling of the chalk pastel within the shape fields. The overall mood of the work is soft and sensual, and in many ways embodies the idea of the male gaze. The lower right section has an interesting swirling form, presumably the arm structure of the sofa on which the model reclines.  But the whirling shape visually repeats the smaller floral pattern in the piece, and as such is an extension of the organic figuration. Looking through your other works on the site, I remember commenting on the bold Mans deviant view.  I’m intrigued by the markedly different approach in that painting, which manifests a sexualized depiction of the nude female form in the context of religious iconography and appropriation. Soft Furnishing may ironically encapsulate the underlying sexual expectation of the soft odalisque; her bare breasted torso is open to the viewer, while the tilt of her head avoids our direct gaze.  The “Eve” opposing Adam’s “deviant view” is less exposed in her stylized and fetishistic gear. I would be very interested to know your concept behind these pieces, and to know if you’ve continued working with various attributes of feminine personas and mystique.