Object Image

The Tempest

The subject of this painting is Emily, a woman the artist has known her whole life. Chapin’s paintings challenge the ageing process, how the years affect our bodies and minds, and how society ‘expects’ older people to behave. The artist explains “We’re told that our bodies are supposed to be a ‘certain height, certain size, certain weight’. But the pictures we see are completely unrealistic, they’re very Photoshopped. That’s why we need images that show all sorts of bodies, so we can accept every size and shape…The female body is an incredible thing to paint.” Chris Ingram, founder of The Ingram Collection, talks about how this painting impacted him when he saw it first: “I thought this pictur...
2013
Oil on canvas
193.0 x 193.0cm
631
© Aleah Chapin. Image courtesy of The Ingram Collection © JP Bland

This work is part of The Ingram Collection of Modern British & Contemporary Art and was on loan to the Lightbox for the exhibition "Redressing the balance: Women Artists from The Ingram Collection" (11 August - 20 September 2020).

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