Go-See: Marlene Dumas at MoMA

My Mama at the MoMA with the Dumas faces.

Marlene Dumas is an artist whose work runs the gamut between gorgeous and grotesque. Her figure-centric paintings and drawings are controversial in their tone and subject matter, often provocatively (even disturbingly) exploring those primal themes of birth, sex, and death. Some of her work is hard to stomach, but some of it is an incredible treat for the eyes. I just went to see her show Measuring Your Own Grave at the MoMA yesterday and her piece 100 Models was like heaven. A grid of faces, mostly female and all rendered in watery-looking chalk, stare out at you from three walls of a room. Each face could be it's own novel, they are so expressive and yet so simple. Some of them smile, some avert their gaze, some stare intently with colored eyes. All are engaging. Go see the show!

Details of Dumas' piece 100 Models.