Marlene Dumas - Contemporary Artists

Passion

Marlene Dumas, Passion The Saatchi Gallery
 

Marlene Dumas

Passion

1994, Gouache and Ink on Paper

61 x 49cm

Passion takes a familiar religious theme yet portrays it in a manner that denies us the reassurance of recognition. The apparently mournful, pained face of Christ on the Cross is pressed close to another face - whether male or female it is not clear - a juxtaposition that is profoundly intimate, even sexual. The viewer's reliance on the title conjures up a distorted image that is at once religious and sacrilegious.
 
  close window