Paula Rego: Oratoria, Marlborough Fine Art | reviews, news & interviews
Paula Rego: Oratoria, Marlborough Fine Art
Paula Rego: Oratoria, Marlborough Fine Art
Grisly goings-on in works that delve deep into the human psyche
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Paula Rego: 'scenes of debauchery given a carnivalesque air'Pictured: 'Down the Well', 2009
I must admit that I enjoy killing things and, since the target of my murderous instincts are clothes moths, fruit flies and, occasionally, rats or mice, society condones my bloodthirsty instincts. But while I get some satisfaction from my exploits, the women in Paula Rego’s drawings and prints appear to go about their murderous business with a mixture of resignation and detachment. These things have to be done, their world-weary faces seem to say, let’s expedite them with as little fuss as possible.
I must admit that I enjoy killing things and, since the target of my murderous instincts are clothes moths, fruit flies and, occasionally, rats or mice, society condones my bloodthirsty instincts. But while I get some satisfaction from my exploits, the women in Paula Rego’s drawings and prints appear to go about their murderous business with a mixture of resignation and detachment. These things have to be done, their world-weary faces seem to say, let’s expedite them with as little fuss as possible.
She lifts the lid on the human psyche and, dredging the depths, discovers untold levels of brutishness that she makes palatable by clothing it in the colourful costume of the carnival grotesque
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