Dana Schutz smothers her paintings in thick gobs of viscous pigment. Her first proper London exhibition is a messy, exuberant celebration of her medium, but some big messages are smuggled through if you manage to uncover them.
Schutz's Approach
Her method – earning her acclaim as one of the most important figurative artists of her generation – is focused on texture, application, colour and materiality. This is art for artists, truly advanced aesthetic geekery. Should you enjoy losing yourself in layers of pigment and shading, there’s enough here to engage you for a while. But it’s Schutz’s grotesque, surreal, cartoony, symbolic visuals that really makes the paintings tick.
Works in the First Gallery
The works in the first gallery are populated by giant-headed cyclopses and baying crowds. In one depicts a group of figures stomps senselessly towards something off canvas, waving hands and leaving a trail of trash in their wake. In another presents a figure given a huge mask in an odd initiation ritual in front of a crowd of ugly supporters. It’s easy to read any of this as social commentary, as commentary on the state of the US, on societal splits and furious, and crowd psychology is turning everything to waste.
An Embrace by the artist.
Shift in Focus
In the other gallery space, the artist appears to redirect attention to the leaders and elites, rather than the crowds that follow them. Mysterious forms fill their faces with fruit and meat in a gloomy eating space; a cardinal and a man in green sit back in golden chairs – while in additional pieces a pair comfort one another in a scene strewn with corpses, and a woman, maybe Schutz herself, lies unclothed, desolate and helpless in a bed.
Inspirations and References
This is ultradense, thickly layered stuff, covered in allusions. You’ll find the ethereal dream-like signs of Odilon Redon, the pink, corporeal animation of Philip Guston, the festive bizarre elements of James Ensor, the large-headed oddities of Paul McCarthy. She includes nods on the art historical tradition, countless nods to pop culture (I am almost 100% sure that a particular work is a portrait of a cartoon character from SpongeBob SquarePants). It would take time identifying all the elements from classic painters with which she’s littered the works.
A Model by Dana Schutz.
Meaning and Stories
Art this complex, complex and allegorical leaves itself open to interpretation. I feel as if I’m being quizzed on the symbolism of a Titian but, in my view, there are two relatively clear themes: the ruling class, and the crowds that they provoke.
The 2017 Scandal
And the artist understands about such dynamics. Back in 2017, her artwork a titled piece – a partly abstract representation of the body of Emmett Till, a black teenager who was murdered by racist perpetrators in Mississippi in 1955 – caused untold controversy when it was shown at the a New York exhibition. She was accused of exploiting black death for her personal benefit. An activist picketed the work each day, and others demanded it to be removed. A white artist painting – perhaps compassionately – a image of black pain was the biggest story of the biennial. It was the peak of the late 2010s culture wars, a time that saw people turning on each other even if they were on the identical team. Looking back now, in a society more divided, simplified and more hostile than ever, it seems almost charming that people had the time to get angry at this emotional, mournful artwork.
Legacy and Current Work
This might have ended her career, and the artist likely aims to move on. But all her subsequent work now exists in its influence. She unavoidably came out of that experience a transformed creator. But what hasn’t changed is her exceptional skill, how she still engages in brilliant, sickly, gloopy and deeply political art at the top tier.
