Simultaneously to the exhibition of Olafur Eliassson’s work at the Serralves Museum in Porto, I was delighted to discover a whole building dedicated to Paula Rego.
I love the way Paula Rego tells stories through her drawings and paintings and have visited her “Casa das Historias” in Cascais several times, which I documented in previous blogposts. (Shortlinks: https://wp.me/papvz2-e4 and https://wp.me/p94hP8-cD)
The exhibition started with a series of etchings , “the Pendle Witches” about the trial of witches in British history.
Paula Rego is often dealing with the role of a woman in society as a subject, through stories and literature that she transforms into images, or by telling her own story very openly, about depressions and abortions, about her family life.
I like the real expressions and quite awkward poses of the persons. I know from the movie “Paula Rego, Secrets and Stories” by her son director Nick Willing “, that she is using the same model, her assistant, who looks quite similar to the artist for the majority of her works.
In this second etching, I really like the emptiness, the feeling of some unfinished pieces creating space around the figure, and again , the quite awkward dynamic pose.
The painting “The strap” from 1995 had a whole room dedicated to it, which amplifies the vulnerability and loneliness of the figure.
This painting lives from the expression and pose of the figure, at the same time bewildered or angry and a little desperate, in a pose that is tense and awkward. The background gives little clues to what is happening, which also focuses the attention on the face and the cramped hands pulling on the underwear. It looks rather like the girl is trying to pull her panties longer to cover herself more, than that she is trying to take them off.
The work is in pastel on paper, and I take some close ups here to look at the mark making.
Paula Rego prefers to work in pastel to avoid expressionistic brushstrokes, but I find the marks here take on a similar quality, with rough strokes echoing the expression and tense pose, contrasting to the smeared parts of the background.
I recognized the small work “the Merman” from a visit to Cascais .
I find there is so much expression in this creature half human, half imagined or animal , with the hand reaching between the tails. I observe how parts are colored and others left untouched.
I like how Paula Rego often combines animals with human figures. This very full and loud painting from the 80’s is full of imagined beings.
It feels quite chaotic at first, but the diagonal composition with the body and penis of the spider figure pointing to the right bottom corner where figures point back up lead the eye.
I do prefer the calmer paintings though. In “Playroom” from 1986, I really enjoy the mirrored composition, with the two clear fields of complimentary colours red and green, both with the same motive of a girl and a dog.
I want to remember this mirrored composition and the depth it creates for my own drawing. I also enjoy the contrast between some parts being very detailed and patterned, while others are left untouched with the bare paper shining through, like here in the hand. This is another aspect to remember as I have a tendency to overwork my drawings.
Finally, “Possession 1-7” ,a series of 7 large scale paintings, left a lasting impression.
The same figure is lying on the same couch with similar clothing, just the poses and the expressions changing. When stepping into the room and surrounded by these large paintings, they become quite oppressing. There is a sense of ennui, of boredom in the expressions rather than possession I find. There is a small note about the artists experience with psychotherapy, so that is probably the theme here, but the paintings can also just give a sense of time passing without much change, a feeling of being stuck, in thought, in a personality, in a place.
This series remind me of the series “Depression”, that I have seen in previous exhibitions. There the figure is also lying on a couch with the same or similar black dress, but the expressions are stronger, more desperate and evoked stronger feelings.
I was delighted to see some more of Paula Rego’s work today, especially as she is using much pastel on paper, which was a good reminder about this medium before embarking on the new drawing course. I feel inspired by her markmaking and compositions, and her unique way of narrative and the way she uses her own story in her work.
Clara's Drawing 2 