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Gina Beavers
Trying to paint Laura Owens 'Untitled 1997' on my lips, 2020
Acrylic and foam on linen on panel
72 x 72 x 12 inches 182.9 x 182.9 x 30.5 cm
GBE.17419
Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen. © Gina Beavers.
Further images
To create her newest body of works, Gina Beavers’ (b. 1974; Athens, Greece) painted her lips and cheeks with motifs from works by famous artists, in this case Laura Owens,...
To create her newest body of works, Gina Beavers’ (b. 1974; Athens, Greece) painted her lips and cheeks with motifs from works by famous artists, in this case Laura Owens, which she then photographed and used as source material. For Beavers, these artworks establish an intimate and physical connection to the history of art and question ideas of authorship and influence in the digital age. Speaking of this new series of works, Beavers describes:
“I am intrigued by the tools of creativity that are proliferating online, particularly when people apply these to their own bodies, from elaborate face and body painting to nail art... I began to use these tools on my own body, borrowing techniques from the internet to make certain artists and their work a part of my own physical self. I am interested in the ways existing online is performative, and the tremendous lengths people go to in constructing their online selves. Meme-makers, face-painters, people who make their hair into sculptures, are really a frontier of a new creative world.”
“I am intrigued by the tools of creativity that are proliferating online, particularly when people apply these to their own bodies, from elaborate face and body painting to nail art... I began to use these tools on my own body, borrowing techniques from the internet to make certain artists and their work a part of my own physical self. I am interested in the ways existing online is performative, and the tremendous lengths people go to in constructing their online selves. Meme-makers, face-painters, people who make their hair into sculptures, are really a frontier of a new creative world.”