GALLERY WEEKEND
BERLIN
2 – 4 May
Alexandra Metcalf
Hah-bandonment, 2024
Oil on canvas, Artist’s frame
Initialed verso
100 x 150 cm
39.4 x 59 inches
39.4 x 59 inches
B-AMETCALF-.24-0007
Alexandra Metcalf works in painting and sculpture, reinterpreting the history of gendered labor through antiquated ornamental traditions. Metcalf considers the way historic counter-culture movements shape aesthetics, with the intense patterns...
Alexandra Metcalf works in painting and sculpture, reinterpreting the history of gendered labor through antiquated ornamental traditions. Metcalf considers the way historic counter-culture movements shape aesthetics, with the intense patterns and coloring of her paintings representing domestic landscapes full of anxiety and populated by hysteric women. Metcalf mythologizes a dramatic descent into madness through exaggerated yet self-aware images related to historically established notions of femininity. One could see this as a satire of literary tropes or an attempt to depict the heightened levels of dramatic tension characteristic of operatic storytelling, where most things are to be seen in parentheses. Her fascination with craft is coupled with attempts to regender labor-intensive mediums historically seen as masculine, including stained glass, bronze casting, and handcrafted woodwork.