Marlene Dumas

The first series of paintings completed by Marlene were targeted towards racial and ethical intolerance titled, "The Eyes of the Night Creature." In the late 80's and 90's, Marlene Dumas began working on a series depicting pregnancy and babies. When she gave birth to her first daughter she began to complete a great number of pieces.
 

A piece titled, "The First People" is a four canvas series devoted entirely to newborn babies. The paintings are many times greater than life size and were painted vertically. The images she created were not attractive. The babies appear as squirming little beings with deformed little fingers and toes, over inflated bellies and crinkly skin. When Marlene Dumas began to paint portraits she used a number of different subjects. Her portraits included; Osama Bin Laden, Naomi Campbell and many family and friends. Marlene even used subjects she did not know in her work. The faces and bodies of her subjects are often distorted and haunting. She uses a thinned down paint to create washed out and smudged images which have become a characteristic of her art. She mixes the political with the personal in dark and disturbing ways. Marlene Dumas is a writer as well as an artist of painting. In her exhibitions she includes a number of her poems, passages and essays concerning her work. Marlene's writing can be helpful and yet confusing layers of her art pieces as one tries to interpret their messages. Her use of the pronoun "you" is a departure from Barbara Kruger's plural statements and often leave viewers and readers unsure of the image's meaning. (Artist website) Read Less