MAMMA ANDERSSON – BEHIND THE CURTAIN
2015-01-12New works in the exhibition include interior settings that appear to be constructed for theatrical and domestic fictions. The compositions reverberate with signs of domesticity and femininity, yet ultimately remain enigmatic. Reflecting a gradual shift in Andersson’s approach to figurative subject matter, characters in her present paintings seem based on toy versions and are distinguished by a distinctive, artificial quality. Representations of dolls appear throughout the new works, as is further exemplified by Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie that portrays two antique wooden dolls whose fabrication is revealed by their peg joints. Recalling shadow puppetry, Hangman shows a marionette-looking figure dangling from a wire, whose large shadow is projected onto the background.
Whereas the representation of dolls and toys is prominently on view in the aforementioned works, the reference is subtly implied in others such as Behind the Curtain, the painting which lends its title to the exhibition. One of the largest panels on view at over five feet in length, it depicts a heavily folded curtain and stage with two female dancers, whose shadowy bodies and stiff limbs give them the appearance of wooden dolls. In Ceremony, a closer viewpoint is used to depict two onstage dancers captured in midstep. Their superimposed look resembles children’s paper dolls with their frozen pose, flattened color, and hard edge.
Opposite – Behind the Curtain, 2014
Exhibition runs through to February 14th, 2015
David Zwirner
519 & 525 West 19th Street
New York
NY 10011
