Victoria Reynolds’ works glow dimly like some mid-17th century oil painting, maybe of a scene from Paradise Lost or the Inferno. Swirling reds and whites and shadows evoke a distinct sense of butchery… Well, maybe that’s more because they actually are paintings of meat, lovingly rendered with a sensitivity toward detail and light reminiscent of Rembrandt or some other pioneering Dutch master. Or something.
But we are not art historians. Not by a long shot. We’ve been to a few museums–some in Europe, even–and seen paintings that looked like Reynolds’, but honestly this is kind of a new jam for us: The meat portrait. Reynolds is an oil painter who specializes in renderings of meats of all kinds. From the bright, cheerful 2003 Pimenti Dimenti to her her dark, hulking 2005 Reindeer Viscera, Reynolds explores the subtle aesthetics of meat with a probing, revealing brush.
These paintings are compelling, for sure, and weirdly beautiful. We’d wonder snidely just who would want to pay thousands of dollars for them if many hadn’t already been sold. Now we’re wondering hopefully if she’ll team up for some portraits with the meat hats people. Cross those fingers.
[Via Serious Eats]
Meat Paintings [Serious Eats]
Victoria Reynolds’ paintings [Richard Heller gallery]
