Ellen Gronemeyer at Greengrassi
May 19th, 2009
Artist: Ellen Gronemeyer
Venue: Greengrassi, London
Date: May 7 – June 13, 2009
Full gallery of images and link available after the jump.
Images:
Images courtesy Greengrassi, London
Link: Ellen Gronemeyer at Greengrassi
2 Responses to “Ellen Gronemeyer at Greengrassi”
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May 19th, 2009 at 8:24 am
who are we kidding? these things are sooooooooooooooo ugly.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Hi Willem,
Thanks for the comment. You’re right to say that these paintings aren’t necessarily pretty, but I’m not sure why you would expect them to be. Do you imagine Gronemeyer in her studio hoping to come out with a soft, elegant portrait and ending up, in failure, with these images?
I think it’s important to note a few things. First of all, ugliness has become a convention in contemporary art. By now, it isn’t challenging, shocking, or really controversial. There is a canon of “ugly” painters, many of whom likely influenced Gronemeyer’s work. It’s also true that there are no easy criteria for paintings these days. The implication that all paintings’s success would hang on traditional beauty is no longer viable. Lastly, and this is obvious enough that it may not need mentioning, beauty (and ugliness) are of course subjective designations. You might find these ugly, but it would also be easy to find them beautiful. One person might like happy songs, another might like sad songs. In other words, we don’t mean to be kidding anyone. These are serious paintings, and are a valid part of the conversation.
Thanks for leaving a comment, I’d be interested to hear more of your thoughts.