On Artsy Until September 9.
"In a living art of portraiture, the motive forces of evolution do not reside only in the artist himself ..."
- Aby Warburg
Osart Gallery presents a collection of figurative paintings from the last two decades, featuring works by Ulla Von Brandenburg, Katharien De Villiers, Vladimir Dobussarsky & Alexander Vinogradov, Jitish Kallat, Hayv Kahraman, Richard Mudariki, Serge Alain Nitegeka, and Naomi Fisher. The group of paintings aims to create connections between the representation of human figures in different decades and cultural contexts.
The art of portraiture is deeply related to self-consciousness, political and social tensions, collective memory, and trauma. Through the eyes of some contemporary masters and notable emerging artists, we underline the tensions between personal and political, the struggle between stereotypes and self-expression, the application of traditional media such as drawing and painting, and the creative reflection on these media.
The featured works overturn historical iconography, face-up personal memories (Nitegeka), involve social and political issues (Mudariki and Kallat), and everyday images (De Villiers). Some of the works represent the feminine body from different perspectives, as an object or an active subject (Kahraman, Fisher, Von Brandenburg, Vladimir Dobussarsky & Alexander Vinogradov).
As Richard Mudariki told us: "I realized that it is not about a state policy, but the politics in society, in our own lives, I can say there are political issues in the art world, there is politics in the relations between a man and a woman, there is always a kind of politics, whenever two or more forces are interacting, and crushing against each other, in terms of opinions, then there is some form of fiction which causes the politics, and that is why now I am also integrating my work and especially situations that I find myself in as an artist".
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