Paula Rego

Paula Rego

I have been really interested in Rego's work for a while now. The way she captures her audience is really clever and she positions her characters in the frame in such a way as to make them seem imposing or as victims.
She inspires me both in her painting style which is stunning, and in the way she uses fairytales as influence in her work and reimagines their meaning or the way the story unfolds.

This piece by her for example, is called 'Snow White playing with her Fathers trophies' and depicts Snow White sitting in the forefront of the painting with a stags head on her lap, with her legs placed in a traditionally masculine pose. The stepmother gazes on in anger and jealousy in the background. The stags head represents the failed attempt of the Evil Queen of murdering Snow White and being fooled by the heart of a stag instead of a human one. For me, the painting also gives reference to Red Riding Hood due to the over whelming use of red in the painting and the stag giving reference back to the forest, as well as the green on the curtain behind her.
The fact that Snow White has her feet placed on a cushion implies the youngness of the girl, as in the original story she was supposed to be around 14 years old. In addition to this there is a strong contrast with the white of her dress hinting at purity and innocence, offset by the severed stags head and the red surrounding her.
Her gaze is also quite important in the piece as you can clearly see her turning away from the natural direction of where the rest of her body is facing and gazing over her shoulder with a strong challenge in her eyes. She has also very deliberately been faced away from the stepmother in the background, as if she is not worth her time, and as a statement of defiance.

Snow White playing with her Fathers trophies

Rego's painting 'War' is one of my favourite pieces. The artist stated it was inspired by a photo in a newspaper from the early stages of the Iraq war. There is heavy symbolism in the piece, not the least of it being the two main characters have heads replaced with rabbit heads. Reasoning behind this may be that rabbits are an animal associated with running away, they are the prey not the predator and they are also painted white a symbol of innocence. 

A meaning that I'm not sure Rego did on purpose or not, or if it's me reading too much into the piece after reading too many fairytales but I feel a strong association with Alice in Wonderland for this painting. The main part is of course, the white rabbits in the centre of the work. Also the main character wearing a blue dress, as the character does in the story implies in my mind a connection. 

The colours are also quite bold, blues, oranges, reds and yellows quite prominent through the painting. There are several characters also scattered around the work and it's very busy; there is a lot going on and always something new to see.