Workday Madonna With Child 

Tania Rivilis's "Workday Madonna with Child" is made from oil paint. Here the artist uses traditional art materials with traditional processes, to make a very untraditional artwork. Looking closely at Rivilis's painting, the texture is built from strokes of thick paint layered on top of each other. The subject, a mother breastfeeding her child, is both timeless and absolutely contemporary. Rivilis clearly wants us to think about labor, both in the domestic sphere and the studio, and the painting becomes a kind of feminist statement. The choice of oil paint, a medium with a loaded art historical past, adds to this impression. By engaging with a tradition that has historically excluded women, and using it to show the everyday reality of motherhood, Rivilis is blurring boundaries, and reminding us that “high art” and “craft” aren’t so far apart after all.