Marlene Dumas

Marlene Dumas, a South Africa-born, Amsterdam-based painter, is one of the world's most admired artists, a titan of contemporary painting. Her work recalls the painterly gestures of Expressionism while combining the critical distance of conceptual art with the pleasures of eroticism. Through her delicately painted oil-on-canvas or ink-and-watercolor depictions of the female form as well as portraits of children and erotic scenes, she makes a commentary on the state of painting today. What does it mean to be a woman working within the predominantly male genre of expressionist painting? The artist often depicts women: their expressions, their bodies, their facial typologies, their self-image, and their ideals.
The relationship between art and female beauty or between art-historical models and twentieth-century supermodels are constant themes in Dumas' work. She does not paint from life but deliberately chooses 'stock' images from a variety of sources, from magazine cuttings to picture postcards to Old Master paintings, as observed through her contemporary perspective. Since the late 1970s she has exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at the Tate Gallery, London (1996), the Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (1998), the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp (1999), and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2002). Her work has been shown in some of the world's top international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (1995 and 2005), where she represented the Netherlands in 1995.
Barbara Bloom interviews Dumas, asking her many questions that pertain to issues facing contemporary women artists, ranging from the intellectual process to the representation of the self. Dominic van den Boogerd surveys themes in Dumas' work in relation to a range of conceptual legacies in depictions of the human figure. Mariuccia Casadio focuses on Dumas' painting Josephine (1997), reflecting on the iconic legacy of Josephine Baker. Finally, the update section by Jan Avgikos surveys Dumas' work from 1999 to the present.

Dominic van den Boogerd is a writer on contemporary art. From 1993 to 1995 he was Chief Editor of the Dutch art magazine Metropolis M and is currently Director of De Ateliers international artists? institute in Amsterdam. Barbara Bloom is a New York-based artist whose international exhibitions include the Venice Biennale (1988), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1998), the International Center of Photography, New York (2006) and Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2006). Mariuccia Casadio is a freelance writer on contemporary art, fashion and design. Formerly Editor of Vogue Italia (1986–90) and Editor-at-Large of Interview (1990–93), Ilaria Bonacossa is Curator at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, Italy and a regular contributor to art magazines such as Flash Art and Contemporary.