Splinter, 2026
Oil on canvas127 x 185.4 cm
50 x 73 inches
129.9 x 188.3 x 6.4 cm (incl frame)
51 1/4 x 74 1/4 x 2 5/8 inches (incl frame)
Notes
In her new body of work, Celeste Rapone allows men into her pictorial world. Each composition pairs a male and female subject. This painting depicts a woman cramped at her dining room table, pulling a splinter from her hand, while her male counterpart lounges watching TV in the background, unbothered. While the woman is portrayed as an active subject, even in a state of discomfort, her male counterpart occupies a passive position, faceless and situated in an adjacent space.
Rapone depicts her figures as barely distinct from their environment, their physiological distortions intertwined with the architecture of their near-monochrome settings. Beguiling in their angular postures and situated within fictional spaces marked by narrative ambiguity, Rapone’s couples summon echoes of our own moments of intimacy and isolation.
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