My original mini-exhibit, which includes Paula Rego’s pastel painting, Snow White Playing with her Father’s Trophies (1995) and her acrylic painting, The Family (1988), is located inside of a gallery that has been transformed into a stereotypical family living room. The intended effect of this transformation is to underscore the upheaval of traditional family structures and female roles that one associates with a traditional living room. Her paintings, which employ erotic imagery and provocative humor, celebrate female control. If one walks right outside the pseudo-living room, he or she will find Louis Bourgeois’ The Destruction of the Father (1974). Like Paula Rego’s artwork, Louis Bourgeois’ sculpture, which a childhood dream of murdering and consuming her father at the dinner table, implies a subversion of the traditional family.
Paula Rego’s Snow White Playing with her Father’s Trophies (1995)
Paula Rego’s The Family (1988)
Louis Bourgeois’ The Destruction of the Father (1974)
You exhibit seems really interesting! While I also got Reggo’s themes of female dominance and reversals of gender roles, I never associated them with painting’s settings. However, your point about the connection between place and gender roles makes complete sense.