"BABES"
1999-08-30 until 1999-09-24
BANG the Gallery
Cape Town, , ZA South Africa

During September 1999 Bang the Gallery will exhibit the work of Lilly Turner and Tracy Gander. BABES is an exciting combination of work with parallels in contents and view, but contrast in other elements; each with a strong individual quality and message; each with a very personal but also universal view.

Babe/baby/n : 1 a naïve inexperienced person

2a an infant, baby

2b a girl, woman - slang; used as a noun of address

Artist and illustrator, Lilly Turner explores the first meaning of BABES.The innocent, yet strange infant, the baby with its often bizarre, almost alien like qualities. She says: Babies are so strange to me - like a separate race of little aliens. Lending her works ambiguous titles and acid-hued pastels, Turner moves away from the cutesy, greeting card images of babies so prevalent in society. For this reason, viewers may find some of her paintings disquieting. Turners work encompasses both a personal response to her subjects and provides a gentle challenge to the way we perceive infants.

Tracy Gander explores the stereotypical views of women, the babe, taking the female stars of 1950s pin-up magazines as a starting point. She reinterprets the well-known stock poses of these dated images by photographing modern women who have all agreed to pout, prance and toy with her camera.

These pictures, I hope, embody a sense of enjoyment, confidence, and a sense of freedom . I try to create a space where it is permissible (and safe) to be sexy and beautiful (and intelligent), to role-play, on each individuals own terms. The images are, therefore, a result of a collaboration between myself and the individuals who have agreed to model for me.

Ganders project looks to subvert the derogatory connotations of the term babe, instead reappropriating it as a suitable title for a sexually confident, mature woman.>

Babe/baby/n : 1 a naïve inexperienced person

2a an infant, baby

2b a girl, woman - slang; used as a noun of address

Artist and illustrator, Lilly Turner explores the first meaning of BABES.The innocent, yet strange infant, the baby with its often bizarre, almost alien like qualities. She says: Babies are so strange to me - like a separate race of little aliens. Lending her works ambiguous titles and acid-hued pastels, Turner moves away from the cutesy, greeting card images of babies so prevalent in society. For this reason, viewers may find some of her paintings disquieting. Turners work encompasses both a personal response to her subjects and provides a gentle challenge to the way we perceive infants.

Tracy Gander explores the stereotypical views of women, the babe, taking the female stars of 1950s pin-up magazines as a starting point. She reinterprets the well-known stock poses of these dated images by photographing modern women who have all agreed to pout, prance and toy with her camera.

These pictures, I hope, embody a sense of enjoyment, confidence, and a sense of freedom . I try to create a space where it is permissible (and safe) to be sexy and beautiful (and intelligent), to role-play, on each individuals own terms. The images are, therefore, a result of a collaboration between myself and the individuals who have agreed to model for me.

Ganders project looks to subvert the derogatory connotations of the term babe, instead reappropriating it as a suitable title for a sexually confident, mature woman.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for South Africa

Other Important Exhibitions in South Africa