Yvette Coppersmith
Born 1980, Melbourne
Soft Kiss, Margot and Rudolf, 2021
oil on linen
102cm x 81cm
Bendigo Art Gallery Collection, 2022.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Photographer: Matthew Stanton
Visual description:
This painting shows two closely positioned figures from the waist up against a plain, light background. Both figures have cropped dark hair and wear fitted, white garments reminiscent of ballet gear. They are embracing gently, their faces touching at the lips. One figure holds the other’s head with a hand near the side of the face, while the other’s arm wraps around the back and rests at the waist. The composition is tightly framed, focusing on the upper bodies and interaction.
Artist’s insights, by Yvette Coppersmith:
Drawing upon inherited forms of figurative painting in order to reimagine them, my painting practice often seeks to create a sense of intimacy between artist and subject. Many canonical modernist works that have shaped our collective consciousness are of women who were sex workers, courtesans, or ballet dancers. In a form of redress, I have worked with Ryan James as a co-model and together we have playfully created an image of the artist (woman) and subject (male escort). The painting also references the famous dance partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev, whose entangled feminine/masculine embodiment was one of inspired energy and great tenderness.
Soft Kiss, Margot and Rudolf was a finalist in the 2021 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize.