In her exhibition “The I's Inside”, Australian artist Christina Zimpel (b. 1961, lives and works in New York) presents a series of enigmatic female portraits. They are the results of various interests and inspirations. Zimpel's intense, non-realistic use of color, and simplified, flat forms is reminiscent of the work of German Expressionists and Fauvists like Henri Matisse. The pink she frequently uses, is not a soft, feminine pink, but rather a subversive, fluorescent pink – like that of the punk of her youth. In turn, the hairstyles often worn in a bun, recall the seductive female figures of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Finally, the shadowy silhouettes in black ink evoke the street photography of Vivian Maier.
"I have a library of images in my head," Zimpel explains. She was the art director of Australian Vogue in a previous life, then worked alongside her husband Patric Shaw, a talented photographer. Editing his photographs, she focused mostly on details and quickly learned that an empty-eyed portrait is rarely worth looking at. "It's the inner thoughts that make the difference between an ordinary portrait and an interesting one." Zimpel's female figures, however, are neither real women nor stereotypes. Rather, they have something cinematic about them and, more importantly, exude a unique atmosphere. "You can see that they are thinking about something. but what ? Who are they really, these women, and what will they be doing when they go home?"
A parade of conspicuous women. Outcasts and outsiders, like in the black and white portraits of the American photographer Diane Arbus; portrayed without ridicule or criticism, but rather with admiration. They may not be the most beautiful women, they are far from being perfect, "but they give their best effort ", says the artist. They play with their best assets, dressing up, taking care of their exuberant make-up and crowning themselves with extraordinary hairstyles. Are they proud and confident, or are they hiding behind a facade? Either way, they aim to get our attention. "I wish I were more like them, more visible," reveals the artist. In a way, they are alter-egos, perhaps self-portraits. "The women have moods and thoughts that could also be mine," she says. Painted in acrylic and gouache, Zimpel often gives the portraits a coat of oil paint to give the a deserved glow.
The works are not snapshots taken in an uncontrolled moment, as it is the case with street photography. No, the women pose willingly. The plain backgrounds of the paintings suggest a canvas in a studio, the sparse and sketchy props of a theatre. The women are represented at that precise moment, "the decisive moment" as Henri Cartier-Bresson would have called it. "The only moment they briefly allow us to look inside their heads," the artist explains. Their pronounced eyes should help us do this, as they are the windows to their souls. Somewhere underneath the thick layers of makeup and clothing lies their true identity. Because "the I's inside", Christina Zimpel knows them.