Monica Bonvicini

'Gasping' is part of the series 'Doors' that consists of mirror works in which Monica Bonvicini continues to use language, poetry and space, rearticulating them under a taint feminism. The quotations the artist utilizes in her works are most often by female writers, in this case from the poem 'Sweet Heart' by Eileen Myles. The color of the mirrors originate from a portrait of Virgina Woolf by Gisèle Freund, taken in 1939. In it the writer is sitting on a chair, holding an open book in her lap with her left hand, and a cigarette in her right hand. In the background is an abstract mural by Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant.

The series uses a complex technique of many layers of color that gives the effect of an almost wet surface. The reflection of the mirror is literally rendered similar to the effect of a tremble, the letters appear almost carved into the lubricious surface. The quotation revolves around a search for spaces full of possibilities, both pleasant and unpleasant.