Anna Weyant’s stirring paintings offer both autobiographical imagery and universal examinations of life’s stages. Recent shows, like “Welcome to the Dollhouse” at 56 HENRY, are contemplative and elegant in execution. That show, in particular, was a showcase of the artist’s cinematic sensibility.
“Weyant’s artworks take cues from Dutch Golden Age paintings; the artist frequently mentions her adoration for Gerrit van Honthorst, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals, and Henrick Terbrugghen,” writes Jens Hoffmann for the gallery 56 HENRY. “Yet it is unclear if she fully embraces that tradition, even if she calls upon a lot of its tropes; indeed, she is just as knowledgeable when it comes to modern and contemporary art and popular culture. There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor about everything she does. Her paintings are playful, tragicomic, and haunting, and sit firmly in a lineage of contemporary artists like John Currin, Elizabeth Peyton, Rita Ackermann, and perhaps even Lisa Yuskavage.”
Find more of her work on her site.
Emile Morel’s mythological scenes have an ancient quality, despite being primarily rendered through digital means. Much of his work offers both whimsy and the fantastical, his hybrid creatures often towering over their child counterparts. Morel was last mentioned on our site