Brittany Tucker
Stańczyk, 2023
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, and the artist

The emotions in Brittany Tucker’s paintings are often manifested as interactions between her own realistically-rendered self-portrait and a second figure depicted as a cartoon. This clever technique underlines the difference between her vision of herself and the ideas about others that haunt her imagination and contribute to her perception of the world. The other figure is often an intrusive white man, or—as seen here—a Black woman. The artist explains that this character embodies a safe and loving relationship between herself and specific parts of her identity. The narratives in her paintings constitute a running commentary on the relationship between race and gender in contemporary American society. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Tucker is currently based in Vienna, Austria.
(DKS)