with Ivana de Vivanco

Foot Massage (finissage) is an artist talk with the current exhibiting artist. Hosted by Alexsandra Norton, the talk provides an opportunity to delve deeper into the methods, modes and themes behind the works. For our first foot massage, we say hello to Ivana de Vivanco. In her painting, de Vivanco makes countless references to art history: the black despair of Goya, the frightening contortions of Bacon, religious iconography, Renaissance drama, ancient myth. Her characters are just as variegated, painted in jester’s checks, smoking jackets, linen scarves, and wide-brimmed hats. Still other figures are rendered nude—a common trait of the artist’s work—and yet all wear masks of either stoic neutrality or theatrically twisted emotion; they are at once vulnerable and performing.