Amanda Besl, Smells Like Teen Rococo
Lyons Wier Ortt Contemporary Art
www.lyonswierortt.com
Amanda Besl’s show last month at Lyon’s Wier Ort was one of the most undisappointing shows I saw my entire gallery hopping visit to New York. The Lyons Wier Ortt Gallery is a small jewel like gallery that lends itself well to the small gems that Besl paints. I found myself thinking that Besl has a lot in common with seventeenth century Dutch master Michael Sweerts both in content and in formal qualities.
Michael Sweerts, artist
Flemish, 1624 - 1664
Portrait of a Youth, circa 1655 - 1661
oil on canvas
15 1/2 x 13 3/4 (39.4 x 34.9 cm)
Roscoe and Margaret Oakes Collection 66.9
Amanda Besl, Icecream Headache, oil on panel, 6.25" x 4.75"
Similar to Sweerts, or even Vermeer’s scenes of middle class seventeenth century domestic life, especially in regards to the activities of young women, Besl’s paintings are at heart, contemporary genre scenes of young women’s lives. An innocent painting that inspires both a sense of nostalgia and déjà vu is “Ice Cream Headache.” I remember that feeling, hanging out with friends, gobbling the ice cream and screwing up my face with the consequences of my greed. Although formally strong, “Ice Cream Headache” exhibits both the strengths and weaknesses of a precocious talent.
None of the small works on panel are larger than around fourteen inches in length or width. The small accessible size of the panels is complimented by the actual construction of the panel itself in which the backs of the paintings is constructed so that the sides of the panel angle back towards the center back of the panel and the panels appear to almost float on the walls.
The surfaces of her paintings are almost slick and photographic, however, these are not photorealistic works. The paint quality and drawing at times can be seen as a good thing and a bad thing although one isn’t sure what the artist’s intention might have been. Some passages of paint are a bit streaky and almost haphazard when examined closely, betraying that these are rendered by hand, but, at some points, I felt like I wanted some surfaces, skin, drapery, and tabletops, to be rendered just a bit more expertly. Likewise, the anatomy of feet and hands were just a touch awkward and probably not intended to be so. I found myself excusing these small problems and enjoying the work. This is after all an emerging artist learning her craft as she creates a body of strong work. Despite these small hiccups, I was still satisfied with each painting and found myself going back through the exhibit several times to look at the overall image and very much enjoying the content.
The majority of the paintings do express young women’s Lolita like sexual power. The gallery’s website describes the content of her work as,
“Placed precariously between desire and detachment, Amanda Besl’s paintings are provocative portraits of coquettish young girls. These alluring narratives seemingly capture a private moment of sexual awareness and self-consciousness. . . Based on images taken from teen fashion magazines or posed snap-shots of the artist’s friends. . .”
Amanda Besl, Drunken Kitten,
oil on panel, 11" x 7"
I found myself seduced and identifying with these young women and their naïve sexual power. One of the strongest paintings of the bunch, and one that exhibits almost none of the formal glitches is “Drunken Kitten.” With the aid of a diaphanous black scarf a young beautiful woman transforms herself, almost literally, into a sex kitten. Check out the show on line on Amanda Besl’s site and the gallery’s at:
http://www.superpaintgirl.com
http://www.lyonswierortt.com/exhibitions/pastexhibition_5.html
posted by Ivanna C. Goodart at 9:39 AM