Vahine II 1984

Curator: Looking at Ivor Abrahams' "Vahine II" currently residing in the Tate Collections, what's your immediate take? Editor: It feels like a memory, a half-forgotten dream. The figure is there but indistinct, like trying to recall a face from a humid afternoon. Curator: Abrahams, born in 1935, often played with representing idealized landscapes and figures, right? It's there in the composition - the woman set against what appears to be beach and palm trees. Editor: Yes, but the flatness! The blue planes suggesting water and the green for foliage almost mock traditional perspective. It’s a very self-conscious, artificial paradise. Almost like it's from a play. Curator: I find that interesting because it disrupts the typical male gaze inherent in portraying the female nude. By obscuring her identity, by literally making her a "figure" in a landscape, perhaps it's a comment on objectification itself. Editor: Perhaps, or maybe it's a deconstruction of the very idea of "paradise," revealing its constructed nature. Either way, there's an undeniable tension between desire and detachment at play. Curator: Food for thought... it's almost as if the artist invites a sense of reflection, rather than immediate gratification. Editor: Indeed, it's a landscape of the mind, not just a pretty picture.