Below, Barrett Barrera Projects Senior Director Bridget Melloy shares a recommended work by one of today’s leading contemporary artists, Genieve Figgis, available at Barrett Barrera Projects’ commercial art gallery, projects+gallery.
Tell us a little about your selection and why you chose it.
I love this print titled Adam and Eve by Genieve Figgis. Figgis is known for her loose gestural style, often depicting and reinterpreting historical paintings, but rather than attempting to portray the gravitas of the titular biblical story, she invokes an almost flippant tone through her aesthetic choices. The color palette of this work is more vibrant than much of her oeuvre and, while there are clear references to Renaissance and Rococo painting, her bold, impasto mark making is a playful departure from its art historical reference points. In particular, I am drawn to her thick application of paint that makes the subjects’ faces and features appear almost like they are melting into ghoulish caricatures, a common motif in her practice.
Why would you recommend this work in particular to a collector?
Figgis, like many Contemporary artists, received her initial acclaim through social media. Richard Prince found her on Twitter and reached out to purchase the first painting that she sold. Since then she has found international fame and her works are highly sought after. This print–an edition of 150–is a way to collect her work and support her career at a much more accessible price point. Additionally, this print was created on the occasion of Figgis’s 2019 exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, so marks a particular milestone in the artist’s career trajectory.
What about this artist are you particularly drawn to?
She’s a mother and initially was painting while her children attended school, but now has a stand alone studio on the Irish coast. I think female artists often find the roles of mothering and being an artist in direct conflict, so I always want to support and champion those artists.
For more information about this and other available artworks, please contact info@projects-gallery.com.