Mighty Beauty, Mighty Beast is a show combined from paintings, animation and an installation. It is a depiction of contemporary beauty cannon that appears in social media and fashion magazines. Exaggerated vision of women: a melt-down of fashion melds with the animal in what could be a serious critique of consumerism and social media or just the poking of a little gentle fun…
I portray an image of modern women, who are driven by a seductive vision of glamour, money, fame, and success. The women in my artworks are powerful, strong and beautiful, but also terrifying, depicted in a grotesque way, full of exaggeration, hyperbolism, and excessiveness. I combine contradicting elements of beauty and ugliness, pain and laugh, harmony and chaos, life and vanishing, creating a grotesque of a contemporary, sugar-coated, mass media, fashion-driven part of the society.
Heads are disfigured, significantly bigger then torso. Manicured, but deformed hands, become a symbol of an ageing part of the human body, which is less susceptible to rejuvenation through surgery or a beauty treatment. This way of presentation brings connotations of plastic surgery and excessive beauty treatments. It also makes these women look similar with their bizarre, exaggerated faces and features.
Chuck Palahniuk’s novel “Invisible Monsters”, fashion magazines editorials, fashion campaigns, make-up tutorials, You-tube beauty series, celebrities, ancient mythology as well as other stories depicting women as dominant, powerful and monstrous, all contributed to my works.
Anna Pogudz: Mighty Beauty, Mighty Beast Bermondsey Project Space, 8th – 19th December 2020 Curated by Paul Carey-Kent and Jolanda Crettaz Chandler
About the Artist
Anna Pogudz is a painter and illustrator who works in one of our Harper Road studios. She studied in Warsaw and London and is currently pursuing depictions of contemporary, multifaceted female subjects.
