Anat Ebgi is pleased to announce Sea Swallow, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles artist Zoé Blue M.. On view at 6150 Wilshire Blvd, opening Saturday, December 11, 2021. This is Blue M.’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.
Blue M’s paintings address characterizations of Asian women in both western and eastern popular culture drawing upon a range of source materials from Anime, advertising, art history, and ukiyo-e, as well as personal memories and photographs. For this exhibition, Blue M. examined Jorōgumo, a supernatural entity of Japanese Yōkai folklore.
Possessing a cunning intelligence and a cold heart, Jorōmugo is a spider-like creature who lives near water and feeds on men. Skillful deceivers, they can shape-shift into beautiful, young women whose mission can often be perceived as to witness the downfall of a man. Though the story of Jorōgumo provided the spine of her thinking, the exhibition breaks apart this story. Blue M. elevates the central character by presenting an open narrative that incorporates moments of innocence alongside scenes of villainy.
Atmospheric exterior paintings with dramatic skies and water are playful such as the siren-esque girls swimming in No Shipwreck Needed or the girl walking along the seashore in Playcate. These moods are contrasted by the psychological and contained interior compositions of Waiting for Tomorrow or Behind the Fall. Together these depictions, consider the complexities of emotional burdens, family history, adolescence, and depictions of East Asian women throughout time and their stereotyping as a way of making sense of her own multicultural identity.
