Dumas’ paintings are mostly inspired by photos and images she takes from anywhere and everywhere. Dumas manipulates them to create her own work of art: she distorts, intensifies, selects and chooses colours at her own will. By giving the painting the title, Dumas adds an extra twist to its meaning. This is also illustrated by Groupshow. The theme seems to be that even in solo professions, such as visual artists, one must at some point take part in group activity. Dumas’ statement is ironic: the figures all face away from the viewer, showing their bare behinds – as if Dumas is presenting the viewer with the back of the painting.
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Dumas’ paintings are mostly inspired by photos and images she takes from anywhere and everywhere. Dumas manipulates them to create her own work of art: she distorts, intensifies, selects and chooses colours at her own will. By giving the painting the title, Dumas adds an extra twist to its meaning. This is also illustrated by Groupshow. The theme seems to be that even in solo professions, such as visual artists, one must at some point take part in group activity. Dumas’ statement is ironic: the figures all face away from the viewer, showing their bare behinds – as if Dumas is presenting the viewer with the back of the painting.
Der zerbrochene Spiegel : Positionen zur Malerei, Hrsg. Kasper König und Hans-Ulrich Obrist. Katalogred. Uta Nusser, ([S.l.], 1993), p. 157, met afb. in kleur; p. 217
Dial 970-muse. Marlene Dumas's pornographic mirror, I. Schaffner, (Parkett : schweizer Kunstzeitschrift in Deutscher und Englischer Sprache, 38, 1993), 100-105, p. 105
Distemper : dissonant themes in the art of the 1990s, Neal Benezra, Olga M. Viso, (Washington, 1996), verg. cat. nr. 3, p. 36, afb. in kleur (Groupshow II)
Exhibitions
Licked by the Waves. Baders van 1900 tot nu, Museum MORE, Gorssel, 2024