joseph scissorhands: March 2022

Sunday 27 March 2022

Miho Hirano: Butterflies Through Other Eyes #59

Some beautifully ethereal paintings of young women adorned with a variety of species of butterflies by talented artist/illustrator Miho Hirano.

Sunday 20 March 2022

Flora Yukhnovich: Thirst Trap

Flora Yukhnovich - Rouge Allure, 2022 (detail)

"The thing that makes me want to paint is paint" - Flora Yukhnovich

Some gorgeously large, immersive paintings at Victoria Miro by Flora Yukhnovich who quite evidently enjoys not only the physical act of painting itself, but also the textural qualities and nuances of the medium itself. These paintings are self-assured, drawing on a knowledgeable wealth of art history and repertoire of techniques which straddle both representational and abstract painting. I was interested to discover immediate visual similarities and references to the palettes of the Rococo paintings of Boucher, Fragonard and Tiepolo much like those of Yukhnovich's contemporary, painter Chris Rivers whose work I saw in January (here). Here too cherubs appear to fly and romp across skies festooned with flora. I also detected the possible influence of the compositions of Post-Impressionists like Cezanne. I enjoyed drinking in the balanced arrangements of these paintings from a distance, but equally rewarding was getting up close to their surfaces to observe the energetic mark-making and sweeps of the different sized brushes used, as well as the artful drips of paint and contrasting yet harmonious colour palette. Yukhnovich's style bridges both figuration and abstraction. They are like historical paintings but seen through the very modern filters of Photoshop or Instragram. The titles of the paintings as well as the title of this show itself - Thirst Trap, knowingly reference contemporary culture creating a dichotomy. Yukhnovich does more than enough to successfully marry these styles, the historical and modern, and in the process creates something uniquely her own.

She is Beauty and She is Grace, 2022

She is Beauty and She is Grace, 2022 (detail)

Rouge Allure, 2022

Rouge Allure, 2022 (detail)

Rouge Allure, 2022 (detail)

Lipstick, Lip Gloss, Hickey's Too, 2022

Lipstick, Lip Gloss, Hickey's Too, 2022 (detail)

Crème de la Mer, 2022

Crème de la Mer, 2022 (detail)

Powder Puff, 2022

Bombshell, 2021

Maybe She's Born with It, 2022

Siren Song, 2022

Flora Yukhnovich: Thirst Trap

until 26th March

Victoria Miro

16 Wharf Road

London

Sunday 13 March 2022

Fausto Melotti. Theatre

Fausto Melotti - Teatrino (Little Theatre), 1950c. (detail)

I really enjoyed the sense of drama evoked in both the beautiful presentation of this exhibition and in the artworks themselves. The exhibition focuses on the theatrical sculptures, ceramics and original drawings created by Italian artist Fausto Melotti (1901-1986) from the 1930s to 1980s. As well as his artistic pursuits Melotti took pleasure in the theatre and used its qualities of dramaturgy and allegory to design his 'teatrini' or little theatres pictured below. Melotti then progressed to design actual theatre sets and costume designs for various productions and ballets. The delicate, Lilliputian sculptures featured here are really charming evoking a sense of narrative and spectacle in the way they have been cleverly lit by the curators of the show. I had no trouble visualising them at full scale as the backdrop to performative storytelling. I detected the influence of Surrealism on several of the works, and enjoyed his recurrent employment of certain theatrical motifs such as ladders, draped curtain backdrops and gridded/compartmentalised boxes which are used to frame his figures. The hollowed out wall and custom made white pedestals upon which Melotti's artworks rest are designed by artist Aaron Angel and perfectly complement the little sculptures.