Image courtesy of Perrotin New York
The Perrotin New York opened a new exhibition titled A Strange Relative, displaying the work of alumna Emily Mae Smith (BFA in Studio Art, 2002) and Genesis Belanger. Described as a "game of inter-referentiality", the Brooklyn-based artists' exhibition features "discrete bodies of work unto themselves, speaking to each other across disciplines in surefooted, refreshing solidarity." Smith’s photorealistic paintings relate to Belanger’s sculptures, “never as a parroting of each other but as a riff upon which meanings compound.”
Juxtapoz Magazine recently wrote a review on the exhibition, calling A Strange Relative “a harmonious installation” that complements both Smith and Belanger’s artistic styles, aesthetics, and motifs. Juxtapoz writer Sasha Bogojev writes,
Pieces like Medusa Modernee or Fruits of Labor are entering the gallery space with their narrative, or are literally overflowing the canvas format. Although rendered in oil, the artist's frequent and meticulous use of gradients, as well as the distinctive silky colors palette choices, evokes the airbrush-art aesthetics. While photorealistic at their technical level, the pieces are depicting a surreal world that conceals numerous references to feminist-related works. Bringing back some of her odd recurring characters, such as the bewitched broom from Disney's Fantasia, as well as using a variety of classic art symbols and metaphors, Smith's masterly executed paintings are continuously questioning the female role through history, with a series of images that are unpredictably playful and humorous, while mysteriously sinister and cold at the same time.
Elephant magazine also sat down with Smith for a Q+A, where Smith spoke about her "uncanny collage of art historical references, sci-fi and classical mythology," symbolism in her work and references to life in Texas.
After A Strange Relative, Smith will be having a solo exhibition next year at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut in February 2019.
A Strange Relative opened November 3 and is on view through December 22, 2018.