Ana Benaroya, selected by Russell Tovey, lives and works in Jersey City, New Jersey. From a queer perspective, Benaroya’s work explores notions of power and desire by exaggerating and distorting the human body, playing with its form and its relationship to other bodies. She draws from the languages of comics, caricature, and pop culture and is influenced by images of bodybuilders, cartoons, gig-posters, and artists such as Tom of Finland, Robert Colescott, the Chicago Imagists as well as children’s artwork. Poetry and song lyrics often play a role in the titles of her works.

The artist says, ‘As I began these two portraits, I was looking at photographs of old time Hollywood actresses as well as photographs of male body builders. I often look to examples of extreme femininity and extreme masculinity when researching for my work. These portraits combine elements of both: the pose is inspired by the bodybuilders and the hairstyle and soft features from the actresses. In one portrait the light is coming from within the figure and, in the other, the light comes from outside. I liked the idea that through opposite lighting, these portraits could have a conversation with each other. The light, like the gender expression of the figure, is playing off both ends of the spectrum.’

Ana Benaroya is an artist born in New York City, raised in the suburbs of New Jersey. She graduated with her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Yale School of Art in 2019. In 2018 she had a two person show at Postmasters Gallery in New York. She had two solo shows in 2020: one with Richard Heller Gallery in Los Angeles and one with Ross + Kramer in New York. In 2021 she had her European solo debut with Carl Kostyal in London.