Maria Lassnig is “the perfect artist for the age of the selfie,” says Peter Eleey, who has curated a survey of the Austrian painter’s self-portraits. The idea is counterintuitive: the ninety-four-year-old artist never relies on photography, unlike many contemporary figurative painters. She uses her imagination and what she calls “body awareness,” a unique approach to Expressionism that she hit on in 1948. Simply described, she paints from the inside out, taking cues from her body’s sensations. If Lassnig doesn’t feel her ears as she’s working, they stay out of the picture. The same goes for her hair. She seems to be aware of seeing and breathing; her faces tend to have eyes, mouths, and noses. The results can suggest an Alice Neel portrait of an extraterrestrial.
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