Highlighting one artist featured in Nordic Impressions: Art from Åland, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, 1821–2018.
Tal R (b. 1967, Tel Aviv, Israel), who was born in Israel but moved to Denmark with his family when he was one year old, works across a wide range of media, including painting, drawing, collage, textiles, installation, and sculpture. His style reflects the influence of expressionism, fauvism, symbolism, traditional Scandinavian art, and art by children. Central to his work is what he calls kolbojnik (the Yiddish word for leftovers), his practice of gathering inspiration from many sources.
Between 2013 and 2015, Tal R created a series of paintings of female nudes (both strangers and casual acquaintances) in front of mirrors and in confined interior spaces such as hotel rooms, bedrooms, corridors, and showers. Reminiscent of the colorful rooms painted by Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) and Henri Matisse, the composition of The Drawing Class (2014) has only an abstracted semblance to windows, pillows, tapestry, carpets, tables, and even the central yellow reclining female nude.
The Drawing Class is on view at the Phillips through January 13 in Nordic Impressions.
Tal R, The Drawing Class, 2014, Pigment and rabbit-skin glue on canvas, 67 ¾ x 55 ½ in. Collection of Howard and Katia Read, New York