MOTIONS, 2020, Bortolami, New York

'I’m trying to get Slap to look violent and fragile and to put all of the contrasting colors together to slap the eyes. The trouble is to create some magical depth without too much gradation of tones which would create a fakish depth. The color should be straightforward and simple, to pull one in and to push one out..' Anna Ostoya: Entries, 2020

'By merging the movements and silhouettes, Ostoya has created works that resemble one particular sensation of the first nationwide (or rather, global) lockdown: a routined replication of each day, performed in the same confined space resulting in a nearly indistinguishable mass of motions. The inspiration for this series came from Ostoya’s previous work (UN)MADE (After Frenhofer), 2017. The artist created the piece after repeatedly sketching the outline of her own body directly on the canvas. Just as the works in Motions, (UN)MADE displays ‘the seductive qualities of painting a nude without painting a representation of an idealized body’, to quote the artist herself. This technique further helps to bypass the notorious voyeuristic ‘male gaze’ which too often in the art world results in the objectification of the (female) body.'  Caroline Blockus: She Performs


Bortolami: Motions, 7 Nov – 19 Dec 2020