First, let’s marvel at the fact that these are oil paintings… ?! Layers of beautiful paint, lots of taped off areas, then more paint. Next, the idea behind all of this work is brilliant. I think “MY EYES ARE UP HERE” is my favorite… both of them! These are the paintings of Los Angeles based artist Bri Cirel, and this is a quote from a recent interview:
“… The realization that women and their images have been narrated by men for all of history lead me to wonder, who are we (women) really? What do we want really?…The politics and the history of sex—there’s something so dark about it,” Cirel says. “These are weird, unspoken realities that are part of our culture…” via Vice interview with Bri
The art history nerd, and the contemporary art lover inside me just jumped in the air and high-fived!
Damn, that is incredibly clever! The skill is off the charts good!
… in ancient roman portrait bust statues, the statues of men have realistic facial features, but the women look idealized to me. i wonder if much has changed. these nude paintings above are saying: look at me, i’m a beautiful nude. and yet i think that none of the words over the figures will matter as long as there’s a boob sticking out. it’s kinda funny and brilliant!