Gina Beavers
Moma Bra

21.10.2022 — 13.11.2022
DAY LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 13d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 33.02d cm)
DAY LIP, 2022, (detail)
LIPSTICK LIPS, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 11d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 27.94d cm)
LIPSTICK LIPS, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 11d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 27.94d cm)
(right) I LOVE ART, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 36w × 4 1/2d in (121.92h × 91.44w × 11.43d cm); (2nd right) MOMA BRA REVEAL, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 44w × 4.50d in (121.92h × 111.76w × 11.43d cm); (left) BRAIN LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23.50h × 23.50w × 11d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 27.94d cm); (2nd left) RED HEART LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 15d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 38.10d cm)
RED HEART LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 15d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 38.10d cm)
MOMA BRA REVEAL, 2022, (detail)
MOMA BRA REVEAL, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 44w × 4.50d in (121.92h × 111.76w × 11.43d cm)
(right) I LOVE ART, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 36w × 4 1/2d in (121.92h × 91.44w × 11.43d cm); (left) MOMA BRA REVEAL, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 44w × 4.50d in (121.92h × 111.76w × 11.43d cm)
I LOVE ART, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 36w × 4 1/2d in (121.92h × 91.44w × 11.43d cm)
I LOVE ART, 2022, (detail)
I LOVE ART, 2022, (detail)
(right) HOW TO BILLY BOOKCASE, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 36w × 5d in (121.92h × 91.44w × 12.70d cm); (left) PAINTING MONET'S WATERLILIES ON MY LIPS, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 14d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 35.56d cm)
HOW TO BILLY BOOKCASE, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 36w × 5d in (121.92h × 91.44w × 12.70d cm)
HOW TO BILLY BOOKCASE, 2022, (detail)
(right) HOW TO BILLY BOOKCASE, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 36w × 5d in (121.92h × 91.44w × 12.70d cm); (left) PAINTING MONET'S WATERLILIES ON MY LIPS, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 14d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 35.56d cm)
PAINTING MONET'S WATERLILIES ON MY LIPS, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 14d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 35.56d cm)
(right) PAINTING MONET'S WATERLILIES ON MY LIPS, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 14d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 35.56d cm); (left) CREATIVE BRAIN NAILS, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 40w × 4d in (121.92h × 101.60w × 10.16d cm)
PAINTING MONET'S WATERLILIES ON MY LIPS, 2022, (detail)
MONET WATERLILY LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23 1/2h × 23 1/2w × 8d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 20.32d cm)
BRAIN LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23.50h × 23.50w × 11d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 27.94d cm)
MME DAVIGNON, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23 1/2h × 23 1/2w × 11d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 27.94d cm)
RED HEART LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 15d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 38.10d cm)
RED HEART LIP, 2022, (detail)
LIPSTICK LIPS, 2022, (detail)
LIPSTICK LIPS, 2022, (detail)
(right) HOW TO BILLY BOOKCASE, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 36w × 5d in (121.92h × 91.44w × 12.70d cm); (middle) PAINTING MONET'S WATERLILIES ON MY LIPS, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 72h × 72w × 14d in (182.88h × 182.88w × 35.56d cm); (left) BRAIN LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23.50h × 23.50w × 11d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 27.94d cm)
BRAIN LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23.50h × 23.50w × 11d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 27.94d cm)
MME DAVIGNON, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23 1/2h × 23 1/2w × 11d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 27.94d cm)
MME DAVIGNON, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23 1/2h × 23 1/2w × 11d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 27.94d cm)
HEART NAILS, 2022, 48h × 43w × 5 1/2d in (121.92h × 109.22w × 13.97d cm)
(right) MONET WATERLILY LIP, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23 1/2h × 23 1/2w × 8d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 20.32d cm); (middle) MOMA AND ME THIGHS, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 40h × 36w × 5d in (101.60h × 91.44w × 12.70d cm); (left) CREATIVE BRAIN NAILS, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 40w × 4d in (121.92h × 101.60w × 10.16d cm)
(right) MOMA AND ME THIGHS, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 40h × 36w × 5d in (101.60h × 91.44w × 12.70d cm); (middle) CREATIVE BRAIN NAILS, 2022, Acrylic on linen on panel, 48h × 40w × 4d in (121.92h × 101.60w × 10.16d cm); (left) MME DAVIGNON, 2022, Acrylic and foam on linen on panel, 23 1/2h × 23 1/2w × 11d in (59.69h × 59.69w × 27.94d cm)

Exhibition Text

Carl Kostyál Stockholm is delighted to present Gina Beavers ‘MoMA Bra’, the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery and her first solo in Sweden.

“I bought a Champion sports bra in the MoMA shop with the MoMA letters emblazoned on it in a collegiate font. It felt like a ridiculous but inevitable product and I wondered what extra layers there would be when an artist put it on. With charm necklaces of a brain, a heart and a palette around my neck, I did and took pictures of myself. Once you take a selfie, you’re in the realm of the attentions, vanities and insecurities of social media. Not any less so as an artist, a painter, a ‘female’ painter. As Jia Tolentino says in an essay from her book ‘Trick Mirror’,“Women—who, as John Berger wrote, have always been required to maintain an external awareness of their own identity—often navigate online conditions so profitably. It’s the self-calibration that I learned as a girl, as a woman, that has helped me capitalize on ‘having’ to be online.”

I’ve been interested in fan art online for a while, specifically that which takes the work of famous artists as it’s subject. A talented or skilled artist makes a work in homage, to show off and to draw a kind of line from one world to another. For me it’s aspirational, like a kid throwing around a baseball hoping to play for the Yankeees one day. Throw in a lifetime of going to museums, going to MoMA, loving certain works the way other people love songs. And then that’s what you do, you’re an artist, you make paintings, you’re a fan, you’re a competitor, so close, so far.

The words together ‘MoMA’ and ‘Bra’ started to ring in my mind like a bell. One from one world, one from another. High-low. Lofty-practical. Masculine-Feminine. And together, a bit snarky and sardonic but then again I didn’t invent the MoMA Bra, someone did and that was probably smart merchandising.

I read an interview with Laurie Simmons once where she said making real art was like being in the studio with your pants down. That if you weren’t mortified and embarrassed by your efforts, you weren’t doing it right. So there’s that and there’s also all the history of painting haunting you, all the most famous works and then your history, your old works, your old shows and then, just you. On social media, we’re liable to look at  ourselves as much as we look at others.

But always, as a female painter, be baring your soul, putting it all out there for other people to consume. Paintings can only do that symbolically. ‘Moma and Me thighs’ and ‘Moma Bra Reveal’ are baring it all in the best way they know how, ‘here are all of my most private parts’ they say. Shamelessness as currency.

This show has favorite famous paintings of MoMA’s, of mine (well they’re famous to me) It has brains, it has heart, palettes appear. The paintings are self-concious, anxious, hilarious and sad, hilarisad and sometimes they’re doing what the world expects of them: ‘Always re-apply your lipstick after a meal.’ Other times they’re fan-girling and pursing, mugging for the camera.

American artist Gina Beavers (b.1974, Athens, Greece) lives and works in Newark, New Jersey. She holds a BA in Studio Art and Anthropology from the University of Virginia (1996), an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2000) and an MS in Education from Brooklyn College (2005).

Her most recent institutional exhibitions include ‘Autofiction’ at the Neuer Essener Kunstverein, Essen, 2021 and ‘The Life I Deserve’ at MoMA PS1, New York, curated by Oliver Schultz, 2019. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions in the USA and abroad, among them several in Sweden: ‘Works from the Gullringsbo Konstsamling’ at Carl Kostyál Stockholm in 2022, ‘Friends and Friends of Friends’ at the Schlossmuseum Linz, Austria, curated by Oli Epp in 2020, ‘Malmö Sessions’ at Carl Kostyál in collaboration with Erika Hellman and Svenska Has AB in 2019 and ‘Summer Show’ at Carl Kostyál Stockholm, curated by Johan Deurell & Oscar Carlson in 2017.