Christina Zimpel The I's inside
In her exhibition "The I's Inside", Australian artist Christina Zimpel (b. 1961, lives and works in New York) presents a series of enigmatic female portraits. They are the results of various interests and inspirations. Zimpel's intense, non-realistic use of color, and simplified, flat forms is reminiscent of the work of German Expressionists and Fauvists like Henri Matisse. The pink she frequently uses, is not a soft, feminine pink, but rather a subversive, fluorescent pink – like that of the punk of her youth. In turn, the hairstyles (hair worn in a bun) recall the seductive female figures of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Finally, the shadowy silhouettes in black ink evoke the street photography of Vivian Maier.
"I have a library of images in my head," Zimpel explains. She was the art director of Australian Vogue in a previous life, then assisted her husband Patric Shaw, a talented photographer. As an editor of his photographs, she mainly focused on details and quickly learned that empty-headed portraits are rarely worth looking at. "The inner thoughts make the difference between a bad portrait and a good one." Zimpel's female figures, however, are neither real women nor stereotypes. Instead, they have something cinematic about them and, more importantly, exude a unique atmosphere. "You can see that they are thinking about something. But what are they thinking about? Who are they really, these women, and what will they be doing when they go home later?"
A parade of conspicuous women. Outcasts and outsiders, like in the black and white portraits of the American photographer Diane Arbus, are portrayed without ridicule or criticism, but rather with admiration. For they may not be the most attractive women, they are far from being perfect, "but they do their best", says the artist. They play with their best assets, dressing up, taking care of their exuberant makeup and crowning themselves with extraordinary hairstyles. Are they proud and confident, or are they hiding behind a facade? Either way, they aim to get our attention. "How I wish I were more like them, more outgoing," reveals the artist. In a way, they are alter-egos, longed-for self-portraits. "The ladies have moods and thoughts that could also be mine," she says. Painted in acrylic and gouache, Zimpel finishes the portraits with a coat of oil paint to give the women their deserved glow.
The works are not snapshots taken in an uncontrolled moment, as it is the case with street photography. No, the women pose willingly. The plain backgrounds of the paintings suggest a canvas in a studio, the sparse and sketchy props of a theatre. The women are represented at that precise moment, "the decisive moment", as Henri Cartier-Bresson would have called it. "The only moment they briefly allow us to look inside their heads," the artist explains. Their pronounced eyes should help us do this, as they are the windows to their souls. Somewhere underneath the thick layers of makeup and clothing lies their true identity. Because "the I's inside", Christina Zimpel knows it.
Roxane Baeyens
- Location
- Brussels
- Date
- —
Selected Images
Selected Images
“"It's the inner thoughts that make the difference between a bad portrait and a good one."”
Christina Zimpel Red Balaclava, 2021
Inquire35,5 x 28 cm
Christina Zimpel Sleep Clinic #2, 2022
Inquire43,5 x 35,5 cm
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