Le Vandalisme 2022

Curator: Zoe Hawk's "Le Vandalisme," created in 2022 using oil paint, presents an intriguing scene. My immediate thought is how still it feels, despite the title suggesting otherwise. The colours, the composition… it’s almost unsettling in its quietude. Editor: The artist's chosen materials clearly establish a visual language linked with tradition; she is referencing classical portraiture through contemporary themes. I immediately think of the social dynamics embedded within this painting – the vandalism seems symbolic of disruptive agency rather than destruction. Curator: I’m particularly interested in the execution itself – the surface appears very smooth. It almost mutes the potential energy in the act. Is the vandalism just part of the performative act of its creation, or are these the details that we’re really meant to focus on as the viewers, its labor of process, its layers and gesture? Editor: Indeed, it appears this act of vandalism exists within a carefully structured framework, like some sort of contained rebellion, framed in a landscape recalling both idealized and staged concepts of leisure. Are these subjects vandalizing established forms and ideologies? Perhaps using art to question the very idea of static art? The clash of school uniforms with the neoclassical style of the statue establishes tensions in class and gender in education, access and behavior in the public realm. Curator: The repetitive patterns found within the textiles create this almost vibrating quality when one’s observing the details – those surfaces are, for me, at odds with the medium. Does Hawk embrace the constraints, maybe highlight their friction? This lends additional complexity to its message of class performativity. Editor: Hawk, by utilizing familiar tropes – the schoolgirl uniform, the classic statue – and then disrupting these visual norms, provides space for viewers to question conventional concepts about how we understand agency, femininity, even artistic value. What labor went into this pristine classical art that seems so easy to challenge here by youth? Curator: Viewing how this unfolds as a physical interaction definitely invites contemplation. Thank you for expanding on that cultural context! Editor: It will be exciting to experience how it will disrupt audiences' conventional expectations as well.