Speaking of sucking out the shine from the surface of a painting, the other day I managed to get the Brussels to check out Bea Scaccia’ss solo debut Mood Swings at MARUANI MERCIER. I loved seeing these magical, exhuberant scenes, clashing against each other at the galleries quiet venue w the dynamics of the fantastical swings. In particular, as always, I loved their crumby, chalk board-like surfaces and how much their overall appearance fits what I wrote in the introduction for her interview with for The Unibrow.
When looking at Scaccia’s paintings, grotesque is hardly the first word that comes to mind. Everything is shiny, polished, elegant, pretty, and perfect—and in absurd abundance. But here lies the catch: the Italian, NYC-based artist pushes beautifying, embellishing, and masquerading so far that the concept comes full circle. It feels as if the long-sought beauty has caught its own tail in a wreck of exaggerated effort.
Just as the imagery suggests an impulsive, almost manic urge for "more and more," the painterly technique is also driven by an equally energetic, subconscious process. In an effort to "dumb things down," she works on lustreless, chalkboard-like surfaces that expose the artifice beneath the glow and sparkle. Surpassing the bounds of traditional beauty, societal expectations, or even good taste, her obscure yet suggestive nighttime boudoir scenes transcend time and space. Referencing everything from Renaissance hairdos and folk tales to pop-culture and Disney, Scaccia employs excessive lavishness to portray emptiness, non-presence, and detachment. And by doing so, she saves beauty from slipping into sentimentality. —Saša Bogojev
