Der Tod und das Mädchen / Death and the Maiden

About

Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf‘s new series explores the nature of the link between young womanhood, creation and mortality.   Alluding to her own German heritage and drawing on the vanitas motif of the young woman and death, she works through a theme that early renaissance artists through to Klimt and Schiele have done before her.

This body of work continues her exploration of femaie identity through portraiture, in which she is able to hold both figurative and abstract elements in tension. Drawing on the vanitas motif, in her paintings the young woman becomes a symbol for the fleeting nature of human life, counterbalanced by her fertility and creative potential.  This in turn becomes an analogy for the act of making art where activity and passivity, chaos and control are all vital components, the artist herself recognising that as much as she must consciously make a mark or create an image, she also must accept moments of disorder, allowing marks to be destroyed in order that something new be created.

The exhibition also features prints created from the detritus of the studio – where the original source photo (Rebecca takes her own photographs for source material) which bears witness to the painting activity that has surrounded it, rather than be discarded on the studio floor has been rescued and reborn.

The exhibition will open with a private view on Thursday 15th September.   All work is available to purchase.