Beginnings and endings
South African artist Marilyn Dumas thinks a lot about beginnings, endings, and the cycle between them. As she contemplates what connects her body of work—a one-off description, the individual entity of emotion, or even just a hook to calm her audience into what to expect when they see her artistic repertoire—she is heralding her state of mind and visualization of her surroundings and the world in which she lives. She contemplates the waves of closures, the idea of imprisonment inside her home, museums closed due to restrictions, and Palazzo Grassi museum In Florence where the current is being shown. Then I thought about the word “opening” and how my paintings are open to different interpretations. In my works the viewer immediately sees what I have drawn but does not yet know what it means. Where work begins, not where it ends. The word “end,” which has its own implications in the context of an epidemic, is fluid and bleak, she saysso I called it Exhibition in Palazzo Grassi This is just: ‘Open End’, a large solo exhibition dedicated to the artist and running until January 8, 2023 (see full list Venice Art Biennale 2022 Shows to see over here).
All images from Designboom, Courtesy of Marlene Dumas and Palazzo Grassi / Heirarchy, 1992, Oil on Canvas / Banner image: Betrayal, 1994
poetic rhythm
Poetic rhythm flows within and forms part of Duma’s artistic research and creations, a tug of war between irregular tempo and consistent feel. Regardless of the dimensions of her paintings, the essence of poetry, if not an echo, lies in her works. “Poetry is writing that breathes and makes leaps and leaves open spaces, so that we can read between the lines,” she says, but her poetic system goes from text to visual, explaining suffering, ecstasy, fear, and despair – to name a few – through the images that animate it. A critical aspect of her work is her use of pre-existing images from which she draws inspiration, from images that appear in newspapers, magazines, or films to still images and photographs she has taken herself. In her book Sweet Nothings: Notes and Texts, she describes herself as an artist who uses secondhand imagery and direct emotions, vacillating between extremes and the spectrums of love and death, sex and race, innocence and blame, and violence. and tenderness.
Blue Marilyn, 2008, oil on canvas
human emotions
One can see the air of awareness she always instills in her images, an invitation to her viewers to reconsider their self-perception and their ability to read the world. Representing human figures who deal with the most intense emotions and paradoxes jointly highlight the myriad of themes touched upon by her body of work. “The drawing is about the trace of human touch. It is about the skin of the surface. The painting is not a postcard, she says. As the artist herself says and Ulrich Locke affirms in his text in the exhibition catalog, Some of the criteria for choosing the images that are taken into account for painting may be inherent in Dumas’ personal biography, for example in the separation from his beloved […]. However, the decisive factor could be more clearly general conditions, for example, her youth spent under apartheid; a sensitivity corresponding to the situation of the “wretched of the earth”, those disenfranchised in the Congo, Algeria and Palestine; a fundamental, political-moral stance against racism and sexism; or a stance taken to a form of ‘eroticism’ proportional to her impulse ‘towards unbridled life forces and opportunity, against sober methodological formulations. While she is motivated by ethical questions, her awareness of how she experiences it in and through the body is central to her work.’
Dukhan, 2018, oil on canvas
About the exhibition
The most influential artist on the contemporary art scene, Marilyn Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa. She grew up and studied fine arts during the apartheid regime, and in 1976, she traveled to Europe to further her studies and settled in Amsterdam, where she now lives and works. Today, she works primarily in oil on canvas and ink on paper, and her work consists largely of portraits and human figures, which are universal representations of the full range of human emotions. Curated by Caroline Bourgeois in collaboration with the artist, the exhibition includes over a hundred works from the Pinault collection as well as from international museums and private collections. The focus is on the artist’s recent work including paintings created with the Venice Gallery in mind and expanded with a selection of paintings and drawings realized between 1984 and today.
Crucifixion, 1994, oil on canvas
The privacy of striptease, 1987, oil on canvas
daddy dies [The Baby]1985, oil on canvas
The painter 1994 oil on canvas
Project information:
Noun: Marilyn Dumas. open end
Artist: Marilyn Dumas
Ameen: Caroline Bourgeois
museum: Palazzo Grassi
your location: Venice, Italy
until: January 8, 2023
Matthew Burgess | Designbaum
07 June 2022
#Marilyn #Dumas #explores #human #emotions #concepts #opening #Grass #Palace
