Marjolein Rothman
21 Apr - 02 Jun 2007
MARJOLEIN ROTHMAN
'Iconography II'
'Iconography II' follows 'Iconography I', an exhibition that ran from November to January at Motive Gallery. For this first exhibition, Rothman had been studying the official iconography of the two 19th century French saints, Bernadette de Soubirous and Thérèse de Lisieux. This series of large canvases mirrored Rothman’s choice to work not only on the popular images of these saints, but also on lesser-known depictions. This breadth was adopted in order to capture different moments of their respective lives, thus delaying the moment of recognition in the eyes of the viewer, so that the surrounding myths of the saints might not immediately outshine the images themselves. Just as soberly as Rothman’s colour palette, the works showed how the young painter wavered between disbelief and the driving urge to identify with these women who were once not only holy figures but young, beautiful, and enigmatic individuals.
As a result of this first investigation, while working on 'Iconography II' Rothman proceeded to invert the terms of her original endeavour. Instead of creating images that critique and challenge the potential of their original to shape collective and/or personal identities, Rothman chose to portray unknown individuals – women — according to the iconography of holiness highlighted in 'Iconography I'.
On the other hand, whereas Rothman’s first series implicitly tackled the issue of history’s fundamental representational quality (history as a literary genre with specific individuals as necessary actors for its dramatic unfolding), 'Iconography II' invites us to reflect on the importance of specific formats and stereotypes in its enunciation. What makes someone holy in the eyes of the beholder? Is it her ethics? Or is it the aesthetics of her representation - the way her public presence is mediated through stories and images?
Ultimately, with this new series of portraits Rothman goes a step further in her study of the politics of perception that has been central to her artistic practice since she finished the Rijksakademie in 2004. Her portraits to be seen at Motive Gallery from 21 April to 2 June seem to tell us that, in fact, staged and depicted according to specific codes and conventions, each and every one of us can become a figurehead. [CS]
'Iconography II'
'Iconography II' follows 'Iconography I', an exhibition that ran from November to January at Motive Gallery. For this first exhibition, Rothman had been studying the official iconography of the two 19th century French saints, Bernadette de Soubirous and Thérèse de Lisieux. This series of large canvases mirrored Rothman’s choice to work not only on the popular images of these saints, but also on lesser-known depictions. This breadth was adopted in order to capture different moments of their respective lives, thus delaying the moment of recognition in the eyes of the viewer, so that the surrounding myths of the saints might not immediately outshine the images themselves. Just as soberly as Rothman’s colour palette, the works showed how the young painter wavered between disbelief and the driving urge to identify with these women who were once not only holy figures but young, beautiful, and enigmatic individuals.
As a result of this first investigation, while working on 'Iconography II' Rothman proceeded to invert the terms of her original endeavour. Instead of creating images that critique and challenge the potential of their original to shape collective and/or personal identities, Rothman chose to portray unknown individuals – women — according to the iconography of holiness highlighted in 'Iconography I'.
On the other hand, whereas Rothman’s first series implicitly tackled the issue of history’s fundamental representational quality (history as a literary genre with specific individuals as necessary actors for its dramatic unfolding), 'Iconography II' invites us to reflect on the importance of specific formats and stereotypes in its enunciation. What makes someone holy in the eyes of the beholder? Is it her ethics? Or is it the aesthetics of her representation - the way her public presence is mediated through stories and images?
Ultimately, with this new series of portraits Rothman goes a step further in her study of the politics of perception that has been central to her artistic practice since she finished the Rijksakademie in 2004. Her portraits to be seen at Motive Gallery from 21 April to 2 June seem to tell us that, in fact, staged and depicted according to specific codes and conventions, each and every one of us can become a figurehead. [CS]