Extra-terrestrial …
Luchita Hurtado makes an everyday view feel strikingly fresh in this painting. Her body becomes a radically foreshortened landscape in itself, with pyramids and sweeping, golden dunes. At her feet are geometric abstractions: a rug and placemat.
Home body …
It is an early creation from her series I Am, which always gives us her own perspective, looking down at her body and representing it in an act of self-affirmation. She offsets this body landscape with objects from her home, including children’s toys, a giant apple or pears.
Closet space …
A beam of light cuts across the work – a clue to where the paintings were created. It’s the light falling through the door of the closet that doubled as her studio. It’s an extreme example of Virginia Woolf’s “a room of one’s own”, the space so often denied to female artists.
Pattern recognition …
The Santa Monica-based 98-year-old has a lifelong interest in ancient cultures, from earth mother goddesses to woven crafts, which are vibrantly present in this work.
Luchita Hurtado, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, W2, to 20 October
