Victoria Miro Gallery, London; Private collection, London
Exhibited
London, Victoria Miro Gallery, Inka Essenhigh, October 29 - December 7, 2002
Catalogue Essay
Essenhigh sees her canvases as an arena for action. In her enamel paintings, the background or “stage” is always generic. The action is superimposed on these neutral surfaces. Essenhigh connects these figures with harnesses and wires, the lines of which often act as directional elements, such as arrows, that move the viewer’s eye around the composition. These lines “indicate a connection between a thing happening and the location where it’s happening, almost like a coordinate system,” (D. Hunt, “A New Grammer if Motion,” Flash Art, Milan, October 2000, p. 74). The lines connect the figures like the patterns of the zodiac or the diagrams art historians superimpose on old master paintings to demonstrate the overall design of the composition and the intended movement of the viewer’s eye. B. Clearwater, Inka Essenhigh, Miami, 2003, p. 10