Anna Weyant
THIS WEEK on the GWA Podcast, I interview one of the most exciting artists working in the world right now, Anna Weyant.\n\nFrom girls on the cusp of adolescence swept up in an eerie atmosphere to dollshouses with doors only slightly ajar, the subjects of Weyant\u2019s paintings are nothing short of haunting, humorous, witty, and tense. Rooted in a style that feels like a cross between Old Master Painting and the unnerving perfection of Disney animations, Weyant\u2019s works feel at once familiar, but starkly detached, leaving us to question if they are scenes from the real world, the past, or the ones in our head?\xa0\n\nOften centred on a young girl \u2013 often waiting, thinking, watching or screaming who appears to be around the pre-teen and teenage years described as the \u201cmost frivolous and the most intense periods of human experience \u2013 Weyant\u2019s paintings are full of contradictions. Unrooted in place and time, they sit on a threshold between good/evil, absent/present, strength/vulnerability, being watched/ watching, historic and the contemporary. And, by grounding her work in the traditional genre of still lifes and portraits \u2013 genres only afforded to women who were restricted to large-scale history painting before the 19th century \u2013 she allows us to question what we already know and don\u2019t know from these historic paintings, or,\xa0 what we know and don\u2019t know about our female protagonist and her own experiences.\xa0\n\nBased in New York, and educated at RISD, Weyant, despite being 27, has already held shows to acclaim in the city. Last November, she took over Gagosian\u2019s spaces with 7 new works \u2013 one as large as 9 feet tall, alongside many of her drawings \u2013 and I can\u2019t wait to find out more.\xa0\n\nFollow us:\nKaty Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel\nSound editing by Mikaela Carmichael\nArtwork by @thisisaliceskinner\nMusic by Ben Wetherfield\n\nhttps://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/\n\nTHIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY OCULA: https://ocula.com/