Tomorrow night (June 9th), a new exhibition from Emily Mae Smith opens to the public at Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin. Entitled Feast of Totems, the show is well named as it features the re-occurring imagery of fruits, droplets, tongues, lips, and teeth that signal a grotesque consumption running through the new body of work. Also seen in multiple paintings is one of the Brooklyn-based artist’s most recognizable motifs, the totemic broom lady posed in familiar positions that harken back to classic paintings in art history. Utilizing a flat perspective mixed with photorealistic elements, Smith’s new pieces are bizarre and humorous yet at the same time point the viewer in a more academic direction as they absorb her multiple references.
Discuss Emily Mae Smith here.