Author Description

Still life, evocative, perhaps even erotic - that is a first impression when one sees a painting by Ina van Zyl (b. 1971). Look closer and her work creates mixed feelings of desire, loneliness and embarrassment. Ina van Zyl's exhibition in the Projects Gallery of the Gemeentemuseum takes on the form of an installation entitled "Shame Pieces". The paintings in it show realistic close-ups of genitals, both male and female, and occasionally images of other objects, such as a luxuriant red flower, a dark-coloured fruit or a walnut. They are not shocking as such. They are details of the world we live in, blown up to images that at timesalmost become abstract. The artist's subtle, playful handling of paint makes her work seem introverted, although anger and aggression are always around. With an essay by Ernst van Alphen: How to paint shame.