Fleur's Dolls Song 2014

Nieves Mingueza’s collage “Fleur's Dolls Song” is like a puzzle made of paper, a muted image of a nude figure resting against a backdrop of dark greens and greys, pieced together on what looks like crinkled brown packing paper. I wonder what Nieves was thinking when she chose to tear and layer these pieces together? Was she thinking about how we piece together our memories, imperfect and incomplete? Or maybe how we try to hold onto beauty, even as it fades and frays around the edges? The subtle blues and greens in the figure and backdrop create a sense of calm, but the rough edges and tears introduce a feeling of vulnerability. It reminds me a little of Kurt Schwitters, who used scraps of everyday life to create his collages, or maybe even Cy Twombly, in its delicate vulnerability. Artists are always in conversation with each other, building on ideas, responding to the past, and creating something new. It’s like a song, each artist adding their own verse to a never-ending melody.