Executed in 2019, Ana Benaroya’s Be My Baby is an homage to strong women and their unique appearances. Depicting three female figures with muscular limbs, exaggerated features, outstretched hands and flowing, blonde hair, the present work challenges the viewer, encouraging them to question where their bodies begin and end. Concerned with the lack of depictions of women who do not conform to the traditional standards of femininity in art history, Benaroya’s larger than life women are dominant and assertive rather than submissive and shy, presenting the viewer with a new way of looking at women in art.
"These characters I paint, there’s nothing bashful about them. Their bodies exist exactly as they want them to. Their limbs have no limits; they have no shame."
—Ana Benaroya
The Ronettes: Nedra Talley, Veronica Bennett (Ronnie Spector) and Estelle Bennett, August 21, 1966 In reference to the Ronettes’ 1963 hit of the same name, Be My Baby is a gesture of love. Benaroya’s repeated linework, blurring the contours of each of the three figures, effectively puts them into a dancing motion. Standing in a foggy landscape of unknown depth, the three figures are anchored to their surroundings. The radiating desire of Benaroya’s figures highlights their ties to queerness and freedom. Be My Baby showcases just how intrinsically linked these two themes are to one another.
"In reality, we are trapped and limited by the body we are born into. I love that my figures can expand and transform and meld and have complete control over the shape and appearance of their bodies." —Ana Benaroya
Provenance
Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles
Acquired from the above by the present ownerExhibited
Los Angeles, Richard Heller Gallery, Ana Benaroya: Teach Me Tonight, February 15–March 28, 2020
Literature
Ana Benaroya: The Softest Place on Earth, exh. cat., Ross+Kramer Gallery, New York, 2020, pp. 14, 38–41 (illustrated, p. 39; detail illustrated, pp. 40–41)
1
Be My Baby
signed, titled and dated "BE MY BABY ANA BENAROYA 2019" on the reverse
oil, acrylic and spray paint on linen
82 3/4 x 75 in. (210.2 x 190.5 cm)
Executed in 2019.
Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $115,920
Avery Semjen
Head of Sale, New Now
212 940 1207
asemjen@phillips.com
New Now
New York Auction 28 September 2022
