'Hands are my favourite part of the human body, after the teeth. Playing with hands brings movement into the painting. It doesn’t matter if the subjects are in relaxed positions, hands always create a dynamic composition.'
—Cristina BanBanThe Spanish artist Cristina BanBan’s evocative portrayal of the female form has quickly attracted international praise with exhibitions worldwide. Through her work, BanBan celebrates women and the spaces they occupy, depicting her subject’s ballooned bodies enveloping the entirety of the canvas. The fleshy figures in her paintings sprawl across the picture plane, subverting established notions of patriarchy and confronting the traditional male gaze. As I Set Myself Free is a powerful celebration of female relationships between friends and lovers whilst monumentalising their bold and voluptuous bodies.
Through her works, BanBan combines her classical training from the University of Barcelona with her interest in Japanese Anime, thereby creating paintings with a universal appeal. Isolated aspects of the body are stylised and enlarged in an expressive style to represent complex emotions. Banban explains ‘When I think about hands in paintings, the first thing that comes to mind are Philip Guston’s—so sophisticated and iconic.’i
As I Set Myself Free was included in Banban’s first solo show in Germany, I’ve got nothing to lose at 68 Projects, Berlin. The artist has since been celebrated with multiple solo exhibitions including two shows with Perrotin in Paris in 2022 and Perrotin in Shanghai in 2021 and. A forthcoming solo exhibition of the artist’s work is planned with Skarstedt this Autumn.
