The pleasure of what it could mean and the pain of what it's not.". Double Takes. ” Working in a style that has been called “neo-expressionist” and “conceptualist,” Dumas creates lush, often disturbing and unnerving images of racial, sexual, and cultural subjectivity… I don’t like being paternalised and colonised by every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes along (male or female).”. This contrast between violence and innocence would mark much of Dumas' work. In it, the little boy also seems angry and threatening as he holds a grenade in his hand, yet he was merely growing impatient with the photographer and only wanted to return to his toys. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The New York Times Magazine / Castello di Rivoli, The Particularity of Being Human, Francis Bacon Marlene Dumas, September-October 1995, p. 133 (illustrated in color). By taking her entirely out of her original context, Dumas deceives the viewer and makes him/her look at her child in a very distinctive way. Titian, Rubens, Delacroix, they all showed that the color of the skin in painting can take a full range of blues, reds and greens. ", "Painting is a very slow art. South African artist Marlene Dumas has cultivated a unique position within the world of figurative painting since the early 1980s, focusing on how the human body is translated into an image. These women include. Dumas in the painting does not seem as light but much more thoughtful. Dumas dose not use models, but instead takes her images from mass media and popular culture sources, particularly newspapers and television. Marlene Dumas (born 1953) is one of the most highly regarded contemporary painters working today. Originally published in Dutch Art + Architecture Today, no. She has commented about this portrait: I have not come to propagate freedom. Helena has commented about this work that it is one of the best paintings her mother has ever done. At the same time, she pays homage to her daughter - a mother's source of everything from life and death, fear and glory, happiness and sadness. Read the full statement: My Europe. Dumas, Marlene, 1953-Marlene Dumas : measuring your own grave I organized by Cornelia Butler; essays by Cornelia Butler ... [et al.]. This is painting with no frills: full on, with nowhere to hide…, articleSouth African born artist Marlene Dumas has been called “one of the hottest names in contemporary art.”  Working in a style that has been called “neo-expressionist” and “conceptualist,” Dumas creates lush, often disturbing and unnerving images of racial, sexual, and cultural subjectivity…, review“I write about art because I want to speak for myself. Hans Theo Richter-Preis für Zeichnung und Grafik 2017, Sächsischen Akademie der Künste, Dresden, 2017 Honorary Doctorate, University of Antwerp, 2015 Johannes Vermeer Award 2012, Delft, 2012 Honorary degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, University of Cape Town, 2012 Rolf Schock Prize in the Visual Arts, Stockholm, 2011 flash artLet’s be clear; it’s not about the color of the skin. She becomes the artist, the source, and the genius. ", "I don't go to a psychiatrist. Dumas clearly draws a parallel between the Nazi regime and the policies and practices of the apartheid. If been struggling lately to re-write an artist statement for my upcoming exhibition in September; and since we are celebrating Women’s day tomorrow, I thought it would be a nice idea to share one of the many artists who I admire (in this case Marlene Dumas)’s writings: P.S where she writes ‘paint’ I … Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch at the Munch Museum in Oslo (October 9, 2018). She constantly probes reflection on our individual responsibility, as well as her own, through her explorations into society's darker themes such as death, war, racism, and sex. artist statement. I come from a country, South Africa, that has been a colony both of Holland and of the British. To her, "There is no beauty, if it doesn't show some of the terribleness of life. She is naked and eerily luminous with translucent flesh. Born Aug 3 1953, Kuilsrivier, South Africa. Biography Marlene Dumas is a contemporary South African painter, whose figurative works have earned her a place among the most influential painters of the 20th and 21st centuries. That's why dead painters shine so bright. This very controversial image was taken down in the Netherlands and is part of the Man Kind series, one of Dumas' most political series. Marlene Dumas, born in Cape Town in South Africa in 1953, is one of the most successful artists of the last decades. As a white person in South Africa, using self-portrait is a strong political statement, which makes the painting even more powerful. Dumas' oeuvre is marked by an aesthetic dreaminess derived through the masterful use of creamy oils and watercolor with a decidedly muted application. The artist’s self-portrait Het Kwaad is Banaal (Evil is Banal), 1984, oil on canvas, 49 3/16" x 41 5/16." She looks behind her, to where she comes from, with an ironic smile. Marlene Dumas, South African-born Amsterdam-based artist, is perhaps one of the most significant practising contemporary painters. / ", "Painting doesn't freeze time. "Marlene Dumas Artist Overview and Analysis". All Rights Reserved, Marlene Dumas. Under this new light, the portrait here tends to be interpreted differently. It doesn't travel with the speed of light. The feet are not finished but broadly sketched. Who are we really behind our strategically composed facades? I might not be the only authority, nor the best authority, but I want to participate in the writing of my own history. I have come to show the disease symptoms of my time. What darker truths simmer beneath our everyday lives? Website of Marlene Dumas. Those who were first might well be last. Dumas is not a conceptual artist - the reactions she seeks are emotional as well as mental, as is the process of artistic creation itself: 'I deal with second-hand images and first-hand experiences' (Dumas, quoted in D. van den Boogerd, 'Survey: Hang-ups and Hangovers in the Work of Marlene Dumas,' pp. Today, The Neighbor is said to be the most famous work by Dumas in the Netherlands. The artist reveals a new face to help understand universal racial intolerance, while simultaneously achieving a powerful pictorial statement. The images coalesce out of almost nothing. In Dumas' hands, the image becomes a burden, asking the viewer to consider what is seen versus what isn't seen. These also suggest some accessible resources for further research, especially ones that can be found and purchased via the internet. Marlene Dumas is a South African artist who has lived and worked in Amsterdam since 1978. the-artists.org is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com. Art critic Adrian Searle said of Dumas' paintings: "I am often struck by how little there seems to be on the canvas. His latest works have evolved to figurative expression and are inspired by the works of Egon Schiele, Marlene Dumas, Leonor Fine, and the Fauve style of KeesVan Dongen. August 2018, By Claire Messud / The contrast between violence and innocence, and our own communal participation on that varied shades of gray scale, marks much of Dumas' work. This painting is based on a photograph of the artist looking over her shoulder. Lives and works in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In it lies the unconscious suspicion relayed by media and populist groups that all Arab bearded men in Europe are potential terrorists. ‘The Meaning of Drawing’. As a white person in South Africa, using self-portrait is a strong political statement, which makes the painting even more powerful. I am a good example of everything that is wrong with my time. 37 (1993), p.140; and included in Marlene Dumas, Sweet Nothings. The striking portrait is based on a snapshot of Dumas' own daughter, Helena, who was simply finger painting on a hot summer day. Why should artists be validated by outside authorities? This survey exhibition of her paintings and drawings spans the last four decades—a time of turmoil in the world, and occasionally in her own life, which she has responded to with works of acute observation and searing emotional impact. The artist herself, talking about this work, commented on the ambiguity of childhood with its cruelty and naiveté. August 20, 2014, By Adrian Searle / Even if I have to admit I have never seen in the history of painting such a wide palette of colors for the surface of the naked human body as I have seen in the paintings of Marlene Dumas. February 2, 2015, By Rodney Bolt / Dumas plays with the iconic, romantic representation of a painter with a bit of humor. Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had a vineyard. Content compiled and written by Pich-Chenda Sar, Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Kimberly Nichols, "I have always been interested in how you can depict suffering without being heavy-handed. ", "My best works are erotic displays of mental confusions (with intrusions of irrelevant information). But such wonderful, washed out, transparent colors of dark red-brown, deep purpleblue and variations of charcoal on a living body, and such frightful tones of whitish green and bluish mist on a dead body or face, make Marlene Dumas an exceptional painter. The relation between art and female beauty, art and pornography, female models and models of art, all have been a constant theme for Marlene Dumas. However, this portrait is based on a well-known newspaper photograph of Mohammed Bouyeri, convicted in 2004 for the murder of Dutch filmmaker and journalist Theo van Gogh. (illustrated in color). "Markowitz´s elegant approach emerges from the depths, from the zone of that very fine line … Today, she is considered one of the most influential and iconic artists of the 21st century for her intimate, and yet estranged figurative portraits that explore the complexities of identity, and also for her politically-charged social art. June 15, 2008. Catalogue of an exhibition held at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, June 22-Sept. 22, 2008, and at The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., Dec. 14-Feb. 16,2009. Aug 18, 2015 - Explore Sophie Brown's board "Marlene Dumas" on Pinterest. Marlene Dumas’ artwork gives me courage to not listen to the ‘naysayer’ in my head and move forward to create dangerous, challenging and thought provoking pieces of art regardless of the struggle with the subject matter. the saatchi galleryIn Young Boys, Marlene Dumas’s line-up of ghostly lads is stark and oppressed against the ominous background, trailing off in the distance into mere sketchy traces of suggestion. I have now been living in Europe for 40 years and this is the first time that I publicly describe myself also as a European. In the mid 1980s, when she finished this painting, apartheid was at its height. There is a heaviness to the paintings of the South African-born, Dutch-based artist Marlene Dumas, as if they might fall off the wall and break the floor. Cherchez la Femme Peintre! ©2021 The Art Story Foundation. They are all supposed to help you, but I like to stay in bed, where I have a chance to reflect, like Rossellini. He looks rather calm and peaceful. The girl seems angry as she stares petulantly toward the viewer. Sylvia Batycka Cart 0. The menacing little girl suddenly becomes a powerful force of creation. Marlene Dumasartworks on eBayOriginal artworks, prints, exhibition posters, monographs, books, collectibles. The abstract painters always insist on their connection with the visible reality, while the so called figurative artists insist that what they really care about, is the abstract qualities of life. I don't go to a gym. Includes bibliographical references. Who are we really behind our strategically composed facades? By Robert Enright, Meeka Walsh. The Lancet Psychiatry / It doesn't travel with the speed of light. Dumas in the painting does not seem as light but much more thoughtful. 12 (December 1982): p. 14-19; and included as ‘Background’ in Marlene Dumas, Sweet Nothings.Notes and Texts, first edition Galerie Paul Andriesse and De Balie Publishers Amsterdam, 1998; and second edition (revised and expanded) Koenig Books London, 2014. Her hands are blue and red, covered with something that could easily be identified as blood. This along with her washed out color palette and vacillation between sharpness and blur contribute to her status as iconic painter with a singular signature visual voice. The Meaning of Drawing: drawings by ten Dutch Artists/A Priori tekenen (exhibition catalogue), The Hague/Amsterdam: Netherlands Office for fine Arts/Makkom, 1987: p. 46/143 [compilation of the texts ‘The Meaning of Drawing’, The Meaning of Drawing: drawings by ten Dutch Artists, 1986 and ‘The Surrealist Tradition’, A Priori tekenen, 1987] This jarring portrait presents a little girl, larger than life at over six feet tall. Notes and Texts 1982-2014, Website Marlene Dumas: resources and references, The Worth of Living and Loving: An Interview with Marlene Dumas', Rapture and rejects: the beautiful, flawed world of Marlene Dumas, Marlene Dumas about her exhibition "Moonrise. December 2014, By Deborah Solomon / The generalizing title of "The Painter" adds another layer to consider. She looks behind her, to where she comes from, with an ironic smile. Awards. This courageous work raises questions surrounding fear and manipulation on all levels. Marlene Dumas was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and raised on her family’s vineyard in the countryside. Marlene Dumas. Marlene Dumas is a masterful presenter of what lies beneath. Her nudity gives her a barbarous air and she has been sometimes described as "an evil force of destruction." in my work as elsewhere in life, i guess i always look for some measure of ambivalence. Painting is a very slow art. Marlene Dumas is a masterful presenter of what lies beneath. Statements. Sweet Nothings. ", "What a funny thing painting is. The tension between our fears of appearing racist and our fears of potential danger has become a modern-day reality and Dumas' ability to emphasize this marks a key component of her artistic genius. ", "No painting can exist without the tension of what it figures and what it concretely consists of. What are the recurring themes within her work? 27 May – 25 July 2020 & 2 September – 10 October 2020 What darker truths simmer beneath our everyday lives? The Guardian / Regardless of subject matter, Dumas is noted for a visceral brewing of a tension that wavers between surface appearance, perception, and reality. In this interview excerpted from her eponymous Phaidon’s monograph, the celebrated South African portraitist Marlene Dumas sits down with her friend and artistic contemporary Barbara Bloom for a wide-ranging conversation on the strange nuances of life as an artist and the need to keep your critics guessing. She is best known for her portraits, all inspired by printed images or photographs which she has (often, but not always) taken The artist's role becomes one of mass manipulator in which she willingly pulls the puppet strings of a viewer's emotion in order to provoke reflection on personal culpability. I run away from my accountant, I run away from my dentist. Raised in white South Africa knee deep amongst apartheid, the artist learned young that life was a study in contradictions and duality. Artist Marlene Dumas spoke at the opening of the Forum on European Culture. Welcome portfolio artist statement portfolio artist statement Dumas does not idealise the body, but shows it frankly as a source of temptation and pleasure, taking photographs from sex magazines and Polaroid pictures as her models. Dominic van den Boogerd, art critic and author on figurative painter Marlene Dumas, uncovers the complexities of a controversial work from 2006. Wiping paint off as often as painting positive emphatic marks, she gives us cheekbones or a forehead, a proffered anus and balls or a vulva using hardly anything.". It circulates and recycles time like a wheel that turns. Marlene Dumas The Pilgrim , 2006 The Pilgrim , 2006, is a tantalizing work by South African artist Marlene Dumas , … Border Crossings, no. That's why dead painters shine so bright. The picture depicts an ordinary young bearded man, likely of North-African descent, who could be anyone's neighbor as the title suggests. 8-feb-2019 - Bekijk het bord 'marlene dumas' van Kris Rits, dat wordt gevolgd door 152 personen op Pinterest. The bright self-portrait contrasts dramatically with its title, which refers to Hanna Arendt's controversial report on Nazi bureaucracy and the chilling normality of evil. Image from Marlene Dumas website Measuring your own Grave. She is in her forties, smiling, with long, flamboyant orange hair. What do the critics say? Everything that is radical and enjoyable about Marlene Dumas’ art, as well as its limitations, is implied in that statement. p.cm. In her oil paintings, drawings and watercolors she captures the body in all its states, from pain to pleasure, eroticism to pathos, birth to death. A selective biography of Marlene Dumas. Life and work. Muted application has made a selection of her Magdalens and pinups in ink wash watercolour... 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