Groomed

Gagosian is pleased to announce Groomed, an exhibition of seven new paintings by Bea Scaccia that opens at the gallery's Park & 75 location on September 22. The second in a series of solo presentations by different artists curated by Francesco Bonami, it is Scaccia's debut exhibition with the gallery.

The paintings in Groomed depict elaborate, sumptuous scenes filled with accumulations of fabric and various accoutrements of feminine style including wigs, costume jewelry, shoes, belts, zippers, plastic chains, hair clips, bows, tassels, and faux fur. Backed by colorful curtains and patterned wallpaper, and occupied by chairs, beds, and ladders, these nighttime scenarios are illuminated by representations of fringed lamps, clip-on book lights, and precariously placed lit candles. The nocturnal atmosphere is reinforced by the matte surfaces that Scaccia achieves by mixing gesso with acrylic to mute the colors, reworking them with airbrush, and applying oil paint to selected details.

Incorporating an array of deliberately clashing textures and garish colors, these collections of objects come together to approximate faceless bodies and puppetlike limbs that are sheathed in fishnet tights, positioned as if in arrested motion. These partially formed figures appear to attempt activities—sitting, reclining, reading, climbing, and exercising—that they cannot quite complete. Categorically situated between still life and figuration, Scaccia's works depict an enigmatic realm in which inanimate accessories used for beautification approach, but never fully attain, human form.