Born in 1987 in El Prat, Spain, Cristina BanBan holds a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. Her artist nickname, BanBan, comes from an inside joke between the painter and her Argentinian muralist friend Zosen Bandido – “Ban” – who calls her BanBan.
Her intentionally exaggerated and distorted representations of human – and especially female – anatomy, whose proportions appear overemphasised and hyperbolic, and go against the canons of conventional beauty standards, are signature traits of her painting style. In her works, men and women subjects look confident, relaxed and at ease, while occupied with mundane activities or caught in intimate moments of reflection or leisure. The spontaneity of their gestures seems to testify to a comfortable relationship with their voluptuous bodies, and a genuine disinterest towards the potential presence of viewers. BanBan’s work is an ode to self-determination, to all sexualities and genders, a celebration of the variety of physical shapes and an aesthetic study into the intrinsic harmony of corporeal movements.
The Catalan painter has been exhibited internationally, and her most recent solos shows include Cristina BanBan: Mujeres at Skarstedt Gallery, New York (3 November 2022 – 11 January 2023), Cristina BanBan at Perrotin Paris (19 March – 28 May 2022), Del Llanto (5 May – 12 June 2021), a collaboration between 1969 Gallery and Albertz Benda in New York, Tigre y Paloma (17 May – 12 June 2020) at 1969 Gallery, New York, and Melancolía at Perrotin Shanghai (18 September – 23 October 2021).