Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Redd Walitzki Romanticizes the Cycle of Life in “Exquisite Corpse”

"Exquisite Corpse" is a term for a collaborative art game created by the Surrealists of the early 20th century. Seattle-based artist Redd Walitzki, known for her sensual laser-cut wood portraits, frequently plays the game with her sister and sometimes model. The game provided Walitzki with the basis for her latest series debuting Saturday at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco. "While beginning the series, I discovered a Greek-Roman myth about Chloris, the Goddess of Flowers and Spring. Wandering through the forest, Chloris stumbles upon the lifeless body of a woodland nymph. Saddened by the innocent creature’s fate, Chloris breathes new life into her, transforming the nymph’s body into a flower," Walitzki says. "This tale was the perfect genesis for the beautiful, yet slightly macabre, pieces I wanted to create, and became the jumping off point for this group of paintings."

“Exquisite Corpse” is a term for a collaborative art game created by the Surrealists of the early 20th century. Seattle-based artist Redd Walitzki, known for her sensual laser-cut wood portraits, frequently plays the game with her sister and sometimes model. The game provided Walitzki with the basis for her latest series debuting Saturday at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco. “While beginning the series, I discovered a Greek-Roman myth about Chloris, the Goddess of Flowers and Spring. Wandering through the forest, Chloris stumbles upon the lifeless body of a woodland nymph. Saddened by the innocent creature’s fate, Chloris breathes new life into her, transforming the nymph’s body into a flower,” Walitzki says. “This tale was the perfect genesis for the beautiful, yet slightly macabre, pieces I wanted to create, and became the jumping off point for this group of paintings.” Her ornate, darkly romantic subjects have always featured a juxtaposition between beauty and death in a glamorous way. Here, they appear in more natural settings where life, death and decay are recurring themes. As in the game, her series is a progression of images that lead into the next. Throughout, sprouting flora and fauna hint at the next image in a transformation from decay into new life. There seems no true beginning nor end as Walitzki’s beautiful corpses give themselves back to the earth to be reborn.

“Exquisite Corpse” by Redd Walitzki will be on view at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco from October 10th through November 7th.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Jean-Michel Bihorel, a Paris-based digital artist, crafts bewildering illustrations of otherworldly figures and scenes. These creatures can have a natural make-up, like floral collections or delicate landscapes, or they seem entirely alien. Bihoral works as a CG supervisor for Mécanique Générale and is a co-founder and mentor of CreativeSeeds, a training school for aspiring animators.
Casey Weldon’s paintings have always combined beauty with a dark sense of humor to convey a distorted version of reality. Featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 32 and on our blog over the years, the Seattle based artist's palette has gradually developed a neon-colored luminosity, where his subjects appear to be glowing and bio-luminescent. Moments of darkness and reflecting colors of electric lights are used to convey emotion and spark intrigue in the viewer.
Min Liu, a Taiwan-born, Brooklyn-based animator/graphic designer, has posted dozens of red-hued animated GIFs in her Bloody Diary online. The ongoing project features hilarious animations, often full of cats (and several other beings) in surreal situations. The artist keeps her palette simple in this series, with reds, blacks, and negative space used for each creation.
American-born Japanese artist Yusk Imai portrays highly stylized figures drawn from his dreams and mythology. Working in his studio in Berlin, Imai creates using a variety of materials and applications including sketches, painting on canvas and wood, photography and large scale wall murals. Often drawing in monochrome, ink on paper is his favorite medium. His images have been compared to Gustav Klimt for their use of intricate patterns and symbolism.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List