As already mentioned, I’ve been hard at work in the studio these past few months, occasionally opening a few newsletters, including design blog Yatzer, where I discovered the work of painter Caroline Walls.
These images connected to a recent discussion I had with a figurative painter about the minefield that can be the contemporary female nude painted by a woman. We are bombarded every day with so many images of nubile, conventionally beautiful and “perfect” bodies with overwhelming connotations of the male erotic gaze that I, and many others, find disturbingly exploitative.
I was struck by Caroline Walls’ work which depicts an abstracted view of the female form with sensuality and honesty. She’s part of a group of artists challenging this hegemony and celebrates the female body in an inclusive, non-didactic manner. The flat, print-like silhouettes are given depth by the application of many layers of colour.
