UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology Fall and Winter 2022 - Flipbook - Page 9
Blue Poles Copyright Marilyn Minter
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
it to viewers to determine the “aboutness” of her
work, she does divulge that her intention is “to
make a picture we know is real but have never seen
before,” and that she has no intention of sexualizing
or desexualizing the women she paints. The intimacy
of wrinkles, freckles, errant hairs, and/or pimples
invite the viewer “to examine engines of culture and
to second guess received ideas of contempt.” Her
2007 Blue Poles flaunts in close-up, 5’ tall by 6’ wide,
makeup smeared on downcast eyes and freckles in
constellations, even beneath eyebrows attempting to
grow back after significant tweezing. Despite all this
visual activity, it is difficult to miss the pink-ringed
whitehead and dark pores in the upper right-hand
portion of the painting. Did she paint it intentionally?
Since she paints from photos she has taken, the
answer is both “yes” and “no.” Of the photos she took,
this one needed to be painted. She is a photo-realist,
but she is also a purist, seeing no need to alter what
the photo exhibits are she translates it to paint.
“I want other people to tolerate complexity,” she
tells me. Complexity and beauty are intertwined in
Minter’s work. When I asked how her perspective on
using the explication of women has progressed or
transformed, she said she lets others determine that;
her focus is on painting. But what she paints gives us
entrée into what is vital, what surprises her enough
to entice her to paint it. And any assessment would
be incomplete if the only focus is on her paintings of
women.
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