Corinne Dolle (aka Coco): Pop Intervention - New Paintings

Corinne Dolle (aka Coco): Pop Intervention - New Paintings

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Corinne Dolle (aka COCO ), Mia, Acrylic and spackle on canvas, 6 x 6 inches, 2007. Courtesy of Mary Ryan Gallery, New York.

NEW YORK.-Mary Ryan Gallery presents Corinne Dolle (aka Coco): Pop Intervention - New Paintings (The Village Voice Pinups vs. The Victoria’s Secret Girls), on view through August 24. Corinne Dolle (aka Coco) a native of Avignon, France, currently lives and works in New York City. Her work derives from the world she lives in as a woman; her French background imbues her with a sense of the seductive and her life in New York provides her with the constant stimulus of pop culture.

Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources—1950s pin-ups to contemporary fashion and catalogue advertisements—Coco transcribes the image of the commercialized female sex symbol into playful, provocative paintings. The two series featured in this exhibition, The Village Voice Pinups and The Victoria’s Secret Girls, both feature women advertising sex—either the act or the idea— however in the Village Voice sex is taboo, while in Victoria’s Secret catalogs it is glamorized. The Village Voice pinups are accessible, yet controversial, while the Victoria’s Secret girls are unattainable, but accepted.

Coco is fascinated by these two very different portrayals of sex in public imagery. In “Pop Intervention” she isolates and de-contextualizes these images in order to explore the differences and similarities between these two forms of sexual exploitation. Her cartoon-like representation of these objectified women humanizes them and lends them a sense of innocence.

Both bodies of work are mixed media. Each Village Voice pinup is done using a modeling paste-like putty and acrylic paint on a 6 x 6 inch canvas. The finished canvases have a texture similar to a public wall. The Victoria’s Secret girls are made by mounting foam core cut outs on canvas and covering them with a mixture of acrylic paint.