The paintings of Fernand Leger (1881 – 1955) often celebrate machine-made objects and modern city life. However, in the late 1920s, he began to include natural forms in his work. The curving line down the left-hand side of his 1927 painting Leaves and Shell softens the underlying geometric structure of horizontal and vertical lines. It also acts as a link to the organic shapes of leaves and a shell. These naturalistic elements, with their streamlined shapes, are closely connected to the abstract parts of the image.
In 1930, Paul Nash (1889 – 1946) traveled to the South of France, staying in a hotel by the sea. The image in Harbour and Room (1932–36) derives from a reflection of a ship in the large mirror which hung in front of his bed. The critic Herbert Read, admired Nash’s response to surrealism, writing “he has dared to transform the English tradition.” In 1936, Harbour and Room was included in both the International Surrealist Exhibition in London and Fantastic Art, Dada, and Surrealism in New York City.
Francis Picabia originally made the features of the pink-faced man featured in The Handsome Pork-Butcher (1924–35) with collaged elements. He used a range of items, including string, measuring tape, and curtain rings. Some years later, he then ripped these items off the canvas — an action that also removed areas of paint, leaving patches of bare canvas visible. During the second phase of the work, Picabia added combs for the hair, and painted in the head and hands of a woman. These dramatic changes reflect his humorous and lighthearted approach to picture-making. By using household objects, the artist’s aim was to merge art with every day life.
A close observer of the human condition, artist Anna Boghiguian (b. 1946) draws on the past and the present, poetry and politics to interpret our interconnected world. Based in Cairo Egypt, Boghiguian travels extensively across the globe. These journeys bring knowledge of ancient and contemporary world cultures and politics to her work. This large scale installation, Institution vs. The Mass (2019) was conceived as a dynamic chest set, which builds on her interest in cycles of revolution and sociopolitical change throughout history. The figures of the ‘institution’ evoke ancient and contemporary power structures that are distanced from the lives of everyday people. The ‘mass’ is comprised of activists, demonstrators and thinkers, aspiring towards fundamental human rights and freedoms. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Anna Boghiguian, Institution vs. The Mass→
Japanese multimedia artist Mari Katayama (b. 1987) uses her body and the materials she finds around her to make self portraits, embroidered objects and living sculptures. Playing with conventions of the self-portrait, Katayama creates hand-sewn sculptures and photographs that prompt conversations and challenge misconceptions about our bodies. Born with the developmental condition congenital tibial hemimelia, Katayama chose to have her legs amputated at the age of nine. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: I’m Wearing Little High Heels, I Have Child’s Feet By Mari Katayama→
