Exhibition
Ladies on Paper
Recent Works by Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis, Julian Eltinge, The Countess Charming, 2018 (detail) © Vaginal Davis, Courtesy the artist & Dann Gunn Gallery London
Ladies on Paper. Recent Works by Vaginal Davis was the first institutional presentation of Vaginal Davis’ paintings in Berlin. Over a period of six weeks, six different recent portraits were shown successively in single hangings. Taken from a series of works created over the last two years, the paintings depicted six different public figures from the worlds of art, film and literature.
On the occasion of the exhibition The Black Image Corporation. Theaster Gates, the Gropius Bau invited artists to choose their own individual ways to respond to the photographs on display. Ladies on Paper was Vaginal Davis’ response.
Known today for her drag performances, which began in the 1970s, Vaginal Davis is committed to expanding normative notions of femininity. Drawing on her encyclopaedic knowledge of film, pop and subcultural history, Davis‘ paintings are portraits of figures from past and present, who take on an icon-like status in her work. Vaginal Davis’ alternative cover girls form counterparts to the photographic images seen in the exhibition The Black Image Corporation. Theaster Gates.