With Gender Perspective

Esther Tauroni,

When the writer and Art Historian Esther Tauroni  asked me if she could include a chapter of my art in her new book, I couldn't deny it.

Now that I´ve read the book I feel thrilled and honored because she not only  describes  with detail my  way of painting, but also  my work as a symbol in the 21^st Century of hope for all the forgotten women artists in history.

Compiling the work and  narrating  the history of well known artists, she tells stories of those genius Tintoretto, Goya, Jacques Louis David, Degas,  Gustave Moreau and  René Magritte who  used women as models as a  simple and unique  role, although many of them were also artists but  behind husbands or besides fathers. Creating  this  dynamic and easy to read book, a well organized project in 19 chapters that go from the XVI through the  XVII, XVIII, XIX and XX  centuries to our actual moment, she metaphorically claims justice  for women "With Gender Perspective".

She mentions as an exception  the well known  20^th Century artist  Fernando Botero who as a feminist  exalts women big and fat.

The book also talks about experiences of a few well known women artists, a good example is the XIX century Maria Cosway, where she portrays  herself  with a very upset face as if complaining about the role of the "house cleaning, cooking house wife".
 

Women had to fight twice as hard as men, defying society. There is the work of Hannah Glukstein,  but then we also had Ophelia Camille Claudel,  the victim of John Everest Millais who committed suicide.

And many others..

Black Red

The pleasure of having produced something good.

Portraits are the best way to express intimate experiences of emotion and depth between two because we are in a way  related to the sitter, and hand in hand with him/her.

When painting someone else's portrait, the whole you goes into the whole him/her, capturing  narratives that  reflect  what might be happening in your life at this moment and his /her whereabouts, and inner and outer identities.

With this portrait I am not only challenging the concept of both identities, but also I want to identify  the role of a criminal mastermind, that James Spader plays in his character Raymond Reddington in "Blacklist", a Netflix series.

I´ve been fighting to produce a raw reflection of his hidden mysterious mind  within a face of a cynical impostor, who is  concerned only with  his  own interests.

Disregarding accepted standard rules, distressful of human sincerity or  even any glimpse of integrity,  believe or not, he makes himself respected.

I´ve been brutally cynical and tête à tête with him and my adrenaline, I created this portrait, finally convinced  by him that people are motivated purely by self-interest. Even myself.