THIS WEEK on the GWA Podcast, I interview one of the most exciting artists working in the world right now, Anna Weyant.
From girls on the cusp of adolescence swept up in an eerie atmosphere to dollshouses with doors only slightly ajar, the subjects of Weyant’s paintings are nothing short of haunting, humorous, witty, and tense. Rooted in a style that feels like a cross between Old Master Painting and the unnerving perfection of Disney animations, Weyant’s works feel at once familiar, but starkly detached, leaving us to question if they are scenes from the real world, the past, or the ones in our head?
Often centred on a young girl – often waiting, thinking, watching or screaming who appears to be around the pre-teen and teenage years described as the “most frivolous and the most intense periods of human experience – Weyant’s paintings are full of contradictions. Unrooted in place and time, they sit on a threshold between good/evil, absent/present, strength/vulnerability, being watched/ watching, historic and the contemporary. And, by grounding her work in the traditional genre of still lifes and portraits – genres only afforded to women who were restricted to large-scale history painting before the 19th century – she allows us to question what we already know and don’t know from these historic paintings, or, what we know and don’t know about our female protagonist and her own experiences.
Based in New York, and educated at RISD, Weyant, despite being 27, has already held shows to acclaim in the city. Last November, she took over Gagosian’s spaces with 7 new works – one as large as 9 feet tall, alongside many of her drawings – and I can’t wait to find out more.
Follow us:
Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel
Sound editing by Mikaela Carmichael
Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner
Music by Ben Wetherfield
https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/
THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY OCULA: https://ocula.com/