Anti-portrait, by Darlene Hodgetts
Oil on wood panel, 9"x12", May 2021.
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Painting Series: ANTI-PORTRAIT
Contemporary artist Virginia Nimarkoh painted Untitled #1 (After Gerhard Richter, Betty, 1988) in 2001. Her painting replicates the famous photorealist portrait by Gerhard Richter, replacing a young African-American woman for Richter's daughter, engaging us to reconsider the determinability of an image and the ways minority representation expands the narrative of a conceptually unmovable artwork.
Nimarkoh's painting invited us to revisit Richter's piece, which at that time broke many conventions in portraiture. The daughter turns away from the camera, and the viewer looks into one of Richter’s monochrome works from the mid-70s. The composition achieves intimacy through extreme awkwardness.
Conceptually, the tension builds from the uncertainty about the reason the figure is looking back. Is she about to look forward? Was this the instant when Richter is about to press the shutter button, and Betty decides to unexpectedly look away?
We will reenact both paintings' exact positions using a different subject: ourselves, a family member, a friend.
(Series statement written in May 2021)
- Signed by the artist.
- Unframed.
- This painting is in the artist studio in Rancho Mirage, California.
- Buyer covers packing and shipping fees: $16 if it ships within the US. $25 if it ships internationally.
- You can skip the shipping fee If you happen to live near the artist studio. After purchase, email us so we can help you make arrangements to pick up the painting.
