Marlene Dumas

Marlene Dumas; Watercolour Series

Does Dumas transform people into painting, or does she transform her paintings into people? Do watercolours create individualised forms of human expression or is the audience looking at the transformation of the uniqueness of the human being into an abstract concept?

She is certainly more a sensualist than a painter, using watercolours to lend the figures their dreamlike transparency. For me it is in the characteristic application of the paint it’s contouring which transforms the body language of the figure into a metaphorical language. In this practice, the sensual power of expression adopted in Dumas paintings is perceived by the audience as an unpredictable confrontation.