CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/16/2015

Marlene Dumas: Sweet Nothings

"A title determines the way one looks at the image. What is depicted is desire, what is central is deficiency. It all becomes more complex. The aim of my work, I have come to believe, has always been to arouse in my audience (as well as myself) an experience of empathy with my subject matter (be it a scribble, a sentence, or a face) more so than sympathy. Sympathy suggests an agreement of temperament, and an emotional identification with a person. Empathy doesn’t necessarily demand that. The contemplation of the work (when it ‘works’) gives a physical sensation similar to that suggested by the work. I’m not a stylist, I’m a sensualist." So writes South African-born painter Marlene Dumas in Sweet Nothings: Notes and Texts 1982-2014, a featured title at our store at Frieze New York. Featured image is "Jesus (sketch for the perfect Lover)", 1994.