Untitled 2016

Editor: This intriguing 2016 watercolour painting, simply titled "Untitled" by Kinder Album, depicts a woman standing in what appears to be an urban alleyway. It’s a slightly melancholic scene. What stands out to you? Curator: Well, considering its materials – watercolour on what I presume is paper – and the depiction of a figure in an urban, liminal space, I'm drawn to think about labour and the consumption of images. The act of rendering a nude form using accessible materials like watercolor, challenges the traditional hierarchy of art. Editor: Can you elaborate? Curator: Consider the subject matter itself: A figure, seemingly a woman, presented in this gritty locale. What is her occupation, and why has the artist chosen this background? The "Untitled" nature encourages an intersectional reading through the labour she performs, but also consumption - through art history but also how the painting gets consumed through online profiles such as "Kinder Album". How are production methods used here, by "democratizing" high art to commodify a subject, which has inherent risk when considering the labour behind sex work and how such workers can be perceived. Editor: That's a fascinating perspective. The piece does bring to mind a dialogue between "high" and "low" art forms. So the tension comes from what the artist does with these associations. Curator: Exactly! Think of the labour of the artist too, the application of paint and creative decisions with an art historical reference, with also consideration for contemporary artistic labor in the "digital age". Kinder Album’s choice of media, readily available and widely used, further emphasizes this interplay. Editor: I never considered how the artist's material choices, their very means of production, reflect social and economic factors. It definitely changes how I see the piece. Thanks for pointing this out! Curator: Precisely! Analyzing materiality lets us unpack these complexities, revealing the nuanced relationships between art, labour, and our cultural landscape.