Maria Fragoso
Whose work are you loving these days?
During quarantine I have been thinking a lot about Jill Mulleady’s work, her ambiguous and unsettling narratives resonate so much with this time. I enjoy the way her work emphasizes a feeling of isolation as well as an alternative representation of connectivity. Every single painting feels like a premonition, completely surprising and enigmatic, I love that, complex in the best possible way.
Recently I have been paying attention at works that portray human connection. I was looking at Nan Goldin’s pictures and they feel so nostalgic, even more visceral than usual. Her work makes me so conscious that I am given a special opportunity to look into relationships full of intense emotions. Similarly, through tenderness I have been looking at the sense of intimacy in paintings by Jenna Gribbon and Louis Fratino.
I have been obsessing over Julio Galán’s paintings and collages, as well as Claude Cahun’s photographs. I am fascinated by their self-portraits, which have the beauty of transformation, the ability to reimagine identity into a variety of personae.
What book is on your nightstand?
I just finished reading Role Models by John Waters, which I really enjoyed. It is funny and perverse, even sweet and sentimental. I loved thinking of John Waters’ work through his influences, it’s so telling, inspiring and fun. I am fascinated by how far he has gone to create a new subversive world for himself and his art to flourish. Rather than being an outsider he is truly ‘The Pope of Trash’. Role Models is a really generous book, it invites you to embrace bad taste and read other perverse authors, look at art from a different perspective, hear unique and strange stories from all sorts of personalities. John Waters even gives you incredible fashion tips. He takes you to the most bizarre bars in Baltimore, which makes me think of the four years when Baltimore was my home. I miss Baltimore, so complex but full of welcoming and inspiring people and circumstances.
I just started reading An Apartment on Uranus by Paul B. Preciado. So far I can say that I like how challenging and exciting it feels.
At the same time I was lucky to have my partner read to me The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño while I was working. I really love listening and painting, it’s a beautiful exercise.
Your practice in 5 #
#figurativepainting
#intimacydesirelove
#cannibalisticdevotion
#mexicanheritage
#abundance
What’s on your mind?
So much is changing and happening right now, I have been in so many states of mind. Right now if I want to feel comfort and joy, I think of Jan Steen’s paintings from the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. His paintings are full of delight and make me laugh, they are really fun. Jan Steen’s everyday scenes are covered by intricate details among the chaos, lustfulness and humour that is depicted. Children teasing cats or teaching them how to dance, floors covered by food and broken objects, people having fun, simply amusing and unusual scenes to look at. I also admire his sense of theatricality and performance.
How does the body - yours and others' - influence your work?
The body is very important in my work. I mimic it through the figures and the objects, such as fabrics, a vase or the food. It is depicted abstractly within the space and decorative patterns. I always try to expand the visual vocabulary that can represent different body parts. I find colour crucial to accentuate this, both to portray the physical qualities and to emulate the feelings and sensations that are experienced through it. What it feels like to be tenderly touched, the soft press of a tongue, the pinching of a nipple. I try to imagine how a heavy, sweaty, sluggish air would smell like, perhaps because of the food in the painting. Then smell leads to taste. Both of these to hunger, thirst, or repulsion.
In my work I think of the body through the senses, how a body detects the outside. I enjoy looking closely at the relationship between inside and outside of the body. A mouth bursting saliva like a fountain or food being devoured in an almost cannibalistic way, suggesting desire or devotion for the other. Overall to represent the body, whether referencing reality or fantasy, helps to explore perceptions of gender, sexuality, desire and our longing for human connection. There is freedom in knowing that you can reimagine anything existing into a new form and narrative.
Maria lives and works in Mexico.
September 2020
