Frieda Toranzo Jaeger / Choque Cultural
June 23 – 18 August, 2018
Bajio 231
Colonia Roma
06760 CDMX, Mexico
June 23 – 18 August, 2018
Bajio 231
Colonia Roma
06760 CDMX, Mexico
Lulu is proud to announce a
solo exhibition of the Mexican painter Frieda Toranzo Jaeger.
solo exhibition of the Mexican painter Frieda Toranzo Jaeger.
Frieda Toranzo Jaeger makes
agreeably strange, muscular and seductive paintings. What at first glance might
seem to be very much about cars and the female body, quickly yields, upon more
sustained consideration, to a dense nexus of issues and interests. Carefully
selected motifs are deliberately imbricated within a history of painting which
includes everything from the alter piece to traditionally feminine depictions
of nature to questions of craft through the use of embroidery. These modes rub
up against and come into conflict with more conventional signifiers of
masculinity, power and taste, which are embodied in decoration and cars, and
which she is known to lavishly portray with anatomical precision. As can be
seen through her dense compositions and facture, painting itself as much the
subject matter of her work as whatever she depicts. Conventional assignations
of masculinity and femininity are deftly complicated and collapsed not only in
her imagery, but also in how she constructs, paints and embroiders her
paintings. And while this commitment to the medium and its history might seem
to offer us, as viewers, a kind of aesthetic reprieve, it does not necessarily
offer a way out. Toranzo Jaeger’s
skepticism is palpable, even spiritual. Where an infernal car interior might
plausibly replace a crucifixion scene in an alter piece, a so-called
eco-friendly Tesla will not lead to any real redemption.
agreeably strange, muscular and seductive paintings. What at first glance might
seem to be very much about cars and the female body, quickly yields, upon more
sustained consideration, to a dense nexus of issues and interests. Carefully
selected motifs are deliberately imbricated within a history of painting which
includes everything from the alter piece to traditionally feminine depictions
of nature to questions of craft through the use of embroidery. These modes rub
up against and come into conflict with more conventional signifiers of
masculinity, power and taste, which are embodied in decoration and cars, and
which she is known to lavishly portray with anatomical precision. As can be
seen through her dense compositions and facture, painting itself as much the
subject matter of her work as whatever she depicts. Conventional assignations
of masculinity and femininity are deftly complicated and collapsed not only in
her imagery, but also in how she constructs, paints and embroiders her
paintings. And while this commitment to the medium and its history might seem
to offer us, as viewers, a kind of aesthetic reprieve, it does not necessarily
offer a way out. Toranzo Jaeger’s
skepticism is palpable, even spiritual. Where an infernal car interior might
plausibly replace a crucifixion scene in an alter piece, a so-called
eco-friendly Tesla will not lead to any real redemption.
Frieda Toranzo Jaeger (b.
1988, Mexico City) lives and works in Berlin. She is currently completing her
MFA degree at the Hamburg Kunst Akademie, and in 2017 had a solo exhibition at
Reena Spaulings, New York. Recent group shows include Green Tea Gallery at
Federico Vavassori, Lerchenfeld I at Kunstverein Schwerin, Merlin at SORT in
Vienna.
1988, Mexico City) lives and works in Berlin. She is currently completing her
MFA degree at the Hamburg Kunst Akademie, and in 2017 had a solo exhibition at
Reena Spaulings, New York. Recent group shows include Green Tea Gallery at
Federico Vavassori, Lerchenfeld I at Kunstverein Schwerin, Merlin at SORT in
Vienna.