There’s something uncanny emanating from Emily Mae Smith’s paintings. The artist alludes to pop culture and art history in equal measure, producing scenes that spark recognition, while remaining distant and unfamiliar. You might find yourself staring at an unsettling humanoid broom, whose kitsch curvaceous lines are reminiscent of the unruly objects from Disney’s Fantasia, while the alluring pose and luscious drapes directly reference the seductful setting of Ingres’s La Grande Odalisque. Or perhaps you will become transfixed by a contemporary living room, where a pair of pointed slippers remind you of Vermeer’s domestic interiors.
For the Texas-born artist, male-dominated art history that indulges and solidifies the male gaze is a complex knot that needs to be untangled, as she explains in an Elephant interview with Alice Bucknell, “In a sense my paintings are a response to these paintings and the web of social, cultural and emotional weight they carry instead of a reference to them.” Smith’s first exhibition in Japan is at Perrotin Tokyo until 9 November.
