Jennie Ottinger
Jennie Ottinger
Jennie Ottinger
Recently closed - Jennie Ottinger: What To Do With Your Orphan: A Manual at Johansson Projects. I haven't missed one of Ottinger's shows at Johansson Projects yet, even though I just squeaked into this one on its last day. I've said it before but I almost love Ottinger more for what she leaves out than what she puts in, those unpainted patches in her work as well as the figures and furniture that have only been loosely sketched in. Many of the paintings in this exhibition took a darkly humorous look at the plight of the parentless child, illustrating classic scenes of orphanhood like a row of uncertain children tucked into their beds at night (titled It Could Be Worse) or dinnertime with vaguely monstrous adoptive parents. Ottinger also supplemented her canvases with an actual handwritten orphan manual, which in one section warns the reader against giving their orphan access to "orphan lit" like Oliver Twist or else risk "orphan empowerment." Then if you flipped the book over there was a duplicate version in accurate Latin on the other side. Latin!
See also:
