Surrealist Legacies
The 2022 Venice Biennale’s central exhibition takes its title The Milk of Dreams from the writings of female surrealist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011), curated by Cecilia Alemani. Carrington outlines a magical realm where life is redefined and reimagined through the lens of human imagination, wherein anything can be something else through transformation, change, or evolution. The exhibition Alemani has curated includes both contemporary and historical artists, with an underlying theme that proves the enduring nature of surrealist notions. Female artists who participated in surrealist movements of the 20th century have been overlooked by their genre and its spectators, but continue to rapidly gain the recognition they deserve. Now is the chance to learn from art history and take note of their rising female contemporaries who continue the surrealist legacy.
ARIANA PAPADEMETROPOULOS
Gucci darling Ariana Papademetropoulos’ visions are charming and sweet, yet sometimes feel as if the artist is showing us a premonition. Images of unicorns, flowers with human eyes, and passages into parallel realms recall dreamlike fantasies, yet they are made to look hyper-realistic, full of color and depth, often encased in an iridescent glare. The artist offers an escape in her large scale works, creating portals between viewer and subject. Graduating from CalArts in 2012, her first solo show took place at The Breeder gallery in Athens in 2019, a nod to her own Greek heritage. In 2020 she exhibited at Vito Schnabel Gallery in New York, and at Jeffrey Deitch in 2021. Represented by both Vito Schnabel and Jeffrey Deitch, Papademetropoulos has exhibited in Stockholm, Istanbul, London, Marseille, and more. Archaic Revival fetched a personal record of $162,500 at auction in 2021, over 800% above the estimate of $12-18,000. In addition to maintaining her own artistic practice, she directed Gucci’s 2022 Valentine’s Day Campaign, and her work covered the Purple Fashion Magazine’s 30th anniversary issue. Wooing both fine art and fashion worlds alike, Papademetropoulos’ whimsically curated worlds will only continue to intrigue.
INKA ESSENHIGH
Born and based in New York, Essenhigh comes from a generation of artists who flourished under a renaissance of contemporary figuration in the 90s. Earlier works, which have more of a presence at auctions of the mid 2000s, feature flat, indistinct figures, in Dali-esque, dreamy environments. More recently, the artist is known for indulging in imaginative and naturalistic landscapes, employing a bold use of color and form to construct abstracted fantasy worlds. Looking to fairy tales and myths for inspiration, Essenhigh incorporates the same sense of drama and spectacle in her own work. Essenhigh’s environments are bubbly and bright, yet retain the expressive hand that produces such haunting atmospheres. Essenhigh’s work features in a number of museums, including the Tate, Denver Art Museum, MoMA, Seattle Art Museums, San Francisco MoMA, and more. The artist has sold her work primarily through Miles McEnery Gallery, with recent solo exhibitions taking place at Victoria Miro Gallery in Venice, the Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago, and the Frist Center in Nashville. Essenhigh’s earlier works can frequently be found at auction starting at $5,000.00 and climbing to $75,000.00 in recent years, but newer works continue to find success at galleries and museums alike.
YING MING
Ming Ying was born in 1995 in Beijing, but now lives and works in London, depicting themes of alienation and marginalization that often come with how unattached we are from our surroundings. Ying investigates feelings of loneliness, vulnerability, and the often mundane aspects of day to day life and existence as a whole. Her artist’s statement suggests that “by employing distorted strokes, passionate colour and different colour layers, she is able to establish romantic and psychedelic scenes that are based on the real world, implying a vision of desire.” The blurred world Ying presents exists on the line between abstraction and reality, using carefully manipulated brush strokes to create a dizzying, distorted sense of existence. Such imagery reflects the natural process of change, something can either haunt or nurture human experiences. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2020, the artist has exhibited work at the Saatchi Gallery in London, the Tree Art Museum in Beijing, Another Gallery in Los Angeles, and the Perrotin Gallery in New York. Her works are primarily sold through JD Malat Gallery in London, as well as at Soho Revue. Ying’s warped lens of scenic portraiture secures her spot among working female surrealists to pay attention to.
from the desk of Madison Kelley
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Artist Ariana Papademetropoulos.” Vito Schnabel. Accessed October 18, 2022. https://www.vitoschnabel.com/artists/ariana-papademetropoulos/biography.
“Biennale Arte 2022: Homepage 2022.” La Biennale di Venezia, October 18, 2022. https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022.
“Home.” Ming Ying Art. Accessed October 19, 2022. https://www.mingyingart.com/.
“Inka Essenhigh.” Victoria Miro. Accessed October 18, 2022. https://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/23-inka-essenhigh/.
