La Cage et L’Esprit Fertile de la Chauve-Souris 2014

Sandra Chevrier made this powerful painting, called La Cage et L’Esprit Fertile de la Chauve-Souris, in her own time, using oil and collage. You can see the push and pull in the surface, where areas of carefully rendered realism meet angular shards of colorful comic book pages. It's about process, but also about the collision of different worlds, high and low. Take a look at the figure’s skin: soft, luminous, and painted with delicate gradations. Now let your eye travel to the comic fragments, those bold, graphic elements disrupt the surface and complicate the narrative. It's like a visual puzzle, a dance between the controlled and the chaotic. What does it mean to wear these heroes on your skin, to be both adorned and obscured by these symbols of power and fantasy? Chevrier's work reminds me a bit of David Salle, though with a distinctly feminist twist. Like Salle, she layers images and ideas, creating a space of ambiguity and questioning. Art is always a conversation, and Chevrier is adding her voice to the mix.