Paula Rego - The Depression Series,
at Marlborough Fine Art, Mayfair, London.
In 2007 Paula Rego suffered a particularly desperate bout of depression that nearly killed her. 'I did the pictures when I was feeling very depressed. I was trying to draw my way out of the depression. But then I didn't want people to see them because I felt ashamed of being so depressed. So, I hid them, afraid that if I took them out again my depression would return'.
The twelve pastels in muted black, ochre and mustard yellow are exhibited in Marlborough Fine Art. 'The pictures show the way I felt. Stuck, as if tied up, unable to move. Sometimes I hold onto the wrong thing - like that big rubber thing in the picture - thinking that it might help, but on the contrary, it doesn't help at all. You don't know good from bad'.
Ten, 2007, (pastel on paper)
Four, 2007, (pastel on paper)
Six, 2007, (pastel on paper)
Five, 2007, (pastel on paper)
Three, 2007, (pastel on paper)
Eleven, 2007, (pastel on paper)
One, 2007, (pastel on paper)
Nine, 2007, (pastel on paper)
Eight, 2007, (pastel on paper)
looking closer
looking closer
Mermaid, 2007, (pastel on paper)
These are just so quietly, penetratingly powerful. They could speak of my own depressions too. I love them.
ReplyDeleteThey are very special and, I too, felt they expressed my own depressions! I am so glad I had the opportunity to see them.
ReplyDelete