RYGB 

Cassidy Rae Marietta’s RYGB deploys digital tools to bring together figuration and geometric abstraction. The artist seems to be in dialogue with early twentieth-century movements such as Cubism, Constructivism and Surrealism, while also drawing on more recent popular graphic styles from the late twentieth century. The title, RYGB, likely points to the use of primary colours that were popular with De Stijl painters in the Netherlands, whose work was in turn inspired by earlier forms of theosophy. Note, however, the stylized female nude with floral pasties, her attitude conveying a contemporary sense of autonomy, and the complex set of cultural references. Art history can sometimes seem like a game of spot-the-influence, yet it is equally important to understand what artists do with the resources available to them at particular moments. It is through archival work, close looking and critical discussion that we come to a richer understanding of what an artwork can mean.