Body Language at Saatchi Gallery

Saatchi Gallery comes to life with its latest exhibition containing art works bursting with colour and vibrancy by internationally relative newcomers to the contemporary art scene. Body Language is not so much an exhibition exploring the human body but rather one in which artists explore the uses of the body in order to channel their artistic expressions.

One of the most impressive artists to be included in the exhibition is Makiko Kudo, whose dreamy manga-like paintings resemble contemporary Tokyo pop art with their “kawaii” (Japanese for cute) aesthetic. Makiko combines fantasy settings with everyday life subjects such as children and nature, toying with the imagination in a sea of hues on canvas. Equally as magnificent yet subtly darker are Helen Verhoeven’s paintings, which on the surface appear to represent mundane scenes but, on closer inspection, one finds peculiarly morbid and nightmarishly occurrences, primarily revolving around male subjects abusing young children and women. Verhoeven has taken on the techniques of French and Germany expressionism, exploring the role of the female body, restraint and perversion in a man driven world.

Works by artists in various mediums include photographs from Denis Tarasov’s Essence Series, a sequence of photographs which document the peculiar Russian tradition of gravestone engraving by members of the mafia in the 1990s. Though pompous and somewhat ridiculous Tarasov’s is an interesting observation of a tradition which can be linked back to historical funerary rights such as those of the ancient Egyptians and Romans. Sculptural works incorporated in the exhibition include those by Kaspar Kovitz, Andra Ursuta and Marianne Vitale.

Saatchi is spot on with his inclusion of a broad range of artists in an exhibition which fits together nicely in a refreshing re-evaluation of the figure in contemporary art.

Nastassja Smart

Body Language is at Saatchi Gallery until 23^rd March 2014. For further information visit the gallery’s website here.