CORINNE VON LEBUSA

Corinne von Lebusa (b. 1978) paints small atmospheric scenes suspended mid-story. The main focus of her work might be described as an exploration of the breadth of female tenderness and an introspective reflection on the feminine principle. In Malibu (2024), we sense a moment of teasing inwardness. A young woman rests on her bed in a candy-lit room, playing a little game with Barbie’s horse. Delicately painted naked skin and uncovered breasts suggest vulnerability; yet the image simultaneously conveys the feeling of female sensuality and control: a woman self-possessed in her own body and free to explore erotic potential as and when she wishes it. In many of the works on view, plants frame the scene like gentle stage props. Exotic agaves and cacti appear—lush elements of a kind of paradise. Yet one might ask: paradise for whom? The relationship between women and men in Lebusa’s paintings is ambivalent, at times deliciously cruel. In her staged scenes, often bedrooms, men tend to occupy secondary roles; occasionally they are half-submerged or diminished, as in Sunshine Guild (2025) – a sassy game of one-sided adoration.