CRISTINA BANBAN: 14th STREET MADONNA
SKARSTEDT GALLERY NEW YORK UPPER EAST SIDE
CRISTINA BANBAN: 14th
STREET MADONNA
SKARSTEDT GALLERY NEW
YORK UPPER EAST SIDE
November 7,
2024 – December 21, 2024
Skarstedt
is pleased to announce our latest exhibition, Cristina BanBan:
14th Street Madonna. The word “Madonna” has many origins and
connotations. Tracing its roots to the Latin mea domina, or “my mistress,”
which is the feminine form of dominus, or “master,” it took further shape in
the old Italian ma donna, or “lady.” Within these phrases lies a duality of the
soft feminine lady and the more dominant dame or madam. This juxtaposition of
the many faces of femininity, seen through the lens of contemporary society,
binds together the new works on view.
While BanBan’s work is not autobiographical in
the strict sense of the word, there is something personal and diaristic in each
of her paintings. Taking influence from such things as major life events, all
the way down to the little things she notices as she traverses the city, the
works on view in 14th Street Madonna reveal who
BanBan is in the moment in which she makes each work—what excites her, what
intrigues her, what piques her curiosity. Sometimes, these influences are a
conscious choice, such as the benches, plants, and windows that crop up in several
paintings. Other times, they are unconscious, an element BanBan does not fully
understand until the work is complete.
This shows up through the abstracted
architectural elements that appear throughout some of the works on view. Women
lean on railings, sit on benches, or stand in front of a window as if they are
moving between boroughs on the subway alongside BanBan. Continuously charting a
path between pure representation and pure abstraction, these elements are
discovered through looking closely at these compositions. Whether consciously
noticed or not, they lend a newfound sense of groundedness and contemporaneity.
This modern aura continues in the accessories worn by many of these figures. A
mainstay of her earlier work, the inclusion of things like underwear, high
heels, or knee-high socks are donned in all kinds of colors and patterns.
Whether an elaborate hat or exaggerated bow laces, they simultaneously heighten
the femininity latent within her oeuvre, lend a sense of kitsch, and further
place them as a contemporaneous women. The shoes, in particular, allow the
viewer to take a proverbial step back. Whereas recent work has engulfed its
viewers through the sheer scale of each figure, in 14th Street Madonna we start to get a look at the full
figure, set in a nebulous yet still particular place and time.
BanBan is not new to painting the contemporary
female experience. Still, it has taken on a new framework in 14th Street
Madonna thanks to one of the other major influences on this series: the early
films of Pedro Almodóvar and Sofia Coppola. Both thematically and
aesthetically, their respective filmographies are well-considered throughout
the exhibition. Whether it be rich cherry reds or soft pastel pinks, the
palettes of these filmmakers become part of BanBan’s own palette, underscoring
two different ways to view girlhood or feminine tropes such as femme fatales,
mothers, or heroines. For Coppola, girlhood is a place of fantasy,
experimentation, evasion, or transcendence, shown through stories in which a
woman’s strength and desire are often underestimated. In Tres Mujeres y el Horizonte, for instance, there is a
tenderness in the positioning of the three bodies and a kind of girlish shyness
as two of them turn away from the viewer, hiding their eyes, while the woman on
the left turns her head so swiftly, we see it like a film strip, her different
expressions highlighting the multitude of emotions latent within women.
Meanwhile, Almodóvar’s women are openly strong, intense, and complex—a guiding
thread for emotions. In Striped Socks, a woman stands
confidently in a set of red undergarments—echoing Almodóvar’s palette—and
knee-high striped socks, her hips tilted to one side; she appears comfortable
and alluring, as if she has complete ownership over the gaze inflicted upon
her.
Cinematic language is a way to draw a line
between the real and the imagined, something BanBan charts in her use of
contemporary markers and well-defined women juxtaposed against amorphous
backgrounds and details that fade into the overarching composition. This
balance was fodder for the work of Willem de Kooning, a constant influence on
BanBan, who was specifically inspired to create the series of narrow paintings
in this exhibition after looking at de Kooning’s paintings on narrow wooden
doors he made following his move to the Hamptons.
If the women of BanBan’s previous paintings were
more universal in their scope, those shown in 14th Street Madonna are
imbued with a greater sense of personality and a more personal touch while remaining
entirely relatable.
https://www.skarstedt.com/exhibitions/cristina-banban-14th-street-madonna2/press-release
TRES MUJERES
Y EL HORIZONTE 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
228.6 x 182.9 cm (90 x 72 inches)
© Cristina Banban
AFTER THE
BATH 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
203.2 x 152.4 cm (80 x 60 inches)
© Cristina Banban
A WOMAN 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
228.6 x 86.4 cm (90 x 34 inches)
© Cristina Banban
TWO FIGURES
AND A LANDSCAPE 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
200.7 x 160 cm (79 x 63 inches)
© Cristina Banban
TWO STANDING WOMEN 2024
Oil and
Acrylic on Linen
Dimensions:
228.6 x 182.9 cm
© Cristina Banban
MUJERES
PENSATIVAS 2024
Oil on Linen
Dimensions:
228.6 x 182.9 cm (90 x 72 inches)
© Cristina Banban
THE GREEN
DRESS 2024
Oil and
Acrylic on Linen
Dimensions:
228.6 x 182.9 cm (90 x 72 inches)
© Cristina Banban
STRIPED SOCKS
2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
228.6 x 86.4 cm (90 x 34 inches)
© Cristina Banban
14TH STREET
MADONNA 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
228.6 x 86.4 cm (90 x 34 inches)
© Cristina Banban
THREE
STANDING FIGURES 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
215.9 x 170.2 cm (85 x 67 inches)
© Cristina Banban
TRES CHICAS Y
UNOS ZAPATOS AZULES 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
228.6 x 182.9 cm (90 x 72 inches)
© Cristina Banban
CROSSED LEGS
ON A BENCH 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
203.2 x 152.4 cm (80 x 60 inches)
© Cristina Banban
TRES MUJERES
Y EL FUTURO 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
215.9 x 170.2 cm (85 x 67 inches)
© Cristina Banban
TWO SEATED
WOMEN 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
200.7 x 160 cm (79 x 63 inches)
© Cristina Banban
THREE DANCERS
2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
228.6 x 182.9 cm (90 x 72 inches)
© Cristina Banban
A WOMAN IN
RED HEELS 2024
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:
228.6 x 182.9 cm (85 x 67 inches)
© Cristina Banban
ABOUT
CRISTINA BANBAN
(Born 1987)
In BanBan’s paintings and works on paper, the
exaggerated portrayals of the female form configure into emotive compositions
imbued with intimacy and poise. Evading distinct narratives, the works fuse
references to the painterly canon of Modernism with the artist’s personal
memories and reflections on the present moment. Sinuous contours enveloping the
figures operate in contrast with planes of thick color, which evoke the parity
of human flesh and oil paint seen in the works of Willem de Kooning and Lucian
Freud.
Emphasizing the physicality of the human body,
BanBan’s tranquil characters appear to have clandestine power, their enormous
hands promising colossal strength. Engaged in melancholic contemplation, the
figures rarely meet each other’s gaze, pointing to the human isolation
inflicted by the social and political disruptions of recent years. BanBan’s
nudes are at times punctuated with intimate apparel or adorned with hoop
earrings and hair clips. They become resolutely contemporary, presenting
powerful images of women secure in their relationships and space. Often bearing
features of the artist, the paintings are in part autobiographical.
Cristina BanBan (b.
1987, Barcelona, Spain) lives and works in Brooklyn. She earned her BFA in Fine
Arts from the University of Barcelona. Recent solo exhibitions include
Skarstedt, London (2023); Perrotin, Tokyo (2023); Skarstedt, New York
(2022-2023); Perrotin, Paris (2022); Perrotin, Shanghai (2021); 1969 Gallery
and Albertz Benda, New York (2021); WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong (2020); 1969
Gallery, New York (2020); 68 Projects, Berlin (2019); the Dot Project, London
(2018). BanBan has participated in numerous group exhibitions,
including Present Generations at Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus
(2021); The Hort Family Collections, New York (2019); and Royal Academy
Summer Exhibition 2017, at Royal Academy of the Arts, London. She was the
recipient of a residency at Palazzo Monti, Brescia (2019) and The Arts Club
Prize, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2017). Her work can be found in the
permanent collections of Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; FLAG Art Foundation, New
York; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami;
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain; and the Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL.
https://www.skarstedt.com/artists/cristina-banban/biography
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