For her second solo exhibition at Monya Rowe Gallery, Erin Milez continues to look at the impression of motherhood and the complicated modifications – psychologically and bodily – that accompany it. Milez says: “I see my feeling of metamorphosis mirrored in numerous locations: in Lucy Jones’ clarification of matrescence and turning into chimeras, “by no means being singular once more”, even on a genetic degree; in Tetsuya Ishida’s work, although his embodies a extra hopeless and dehumanized transformation in laboring duties; in Nightbitch the place Amy Adams is remodeled right into a canine due to the primal and bodily calls for of creation and mothering.”
Goodnight, Lion (2024) is a spirited examination of a bedtime routine between guardian and little one. Milez playfully likens the crib to doubling as a zoo cage and the dad and mom performing as zookeepers. The wild animals depicted on the kid’s pajamas additional trace at a caged creature and a humidifier shelling out steam evokes clouds complicating whether or not this might really be exterior quite than in a baby’s bed room. The daddy, barely seen beneath the kid and toys, reaches for a cellular phone (Is he trapped too?), whereas the opposite hand comforts his sleepy daughter. For this physique of labor, Milez deliberately included a father to behave as a mothering determine. The artwork historic canon broadly depicts males in posed portraits quite than being recognized with the labor related to fatherhood. The nurturing roles have been traditionally prescribed to the mom.
In Milez’s work, occasions from each day life are reconstructed to emphasise mundane duties that resemble elaborate juggling acts of duty. The work seize intimacy, wrestle and private reflection. The thought of finishing or succeeding in parenting is itself a chimera. Occupying an area someplace between chaos and nurture, Milez observes the sophisticated and frequently altering dynamics between members of the family and self. The artists’ wealthy coloration palette emphasizes drama and battle. Milez shouldn’t be afraid to painting the seemingly monstrous, however it’s by no means gratuitous and at all times mitigated by magnificence and actuality.
