Artist, Marlene Dumas: Models is the largest installation in the show. They are in a group, but they are still also single works.
So in this group you have pictures of the insane. You have pictures of fashion models. You have pictures of my friends. You have all kinds of women together.
When I was young I always drew little pictures and cartoons of women. But when I went to art school, you know, they tell you, if you want to be an artist, you have to think about what is modern art. The figure in modern art seemed to be for a while distorted figures. And the fashion industry worked with beautiful people. And so drawing a sexy woman, I didn’t know how to make art of that.
I wondered if it was possible to get these different types of models together in a way that it was still interesting as art works or as drawings.
If you want to recognize people, you can see Pina Bausch and Yoko Ono, and you can see a Man Ray and you can see Picasso’s daughter, Paloma Picasso. You can also see Brigitte Bardot.
And I have also been very attracted to androgynous types. So you won’t be sure sometimes if it’s a man or a woman
I always have, just like in a Persian carpet, something that doesn’t quite fit. So there’s also one snake and that’s maybe just a silly joke on the fact that women were always seen as the cause for the Fall. So I can’t stay serious all the time.