Liberty Call 2019

Mary Jane Ansell created Liberty Call as an oil painting, but when is anyone's guess. The way she blends history with the present is a real game. I love the way Ansell teases out the textures: that almost photo-real skin tone against the sketched in background; the solid and yet unreal shield over the softer, suggestive folds of her blouse. The shield, emblazoned with heraldic devices, seems to act as a symbolic barrier between past and present, or perhaps between the internal and external worlds. I notice how her skin is smooth, practically poreless, and then, BAM, you spot those little stray hairs around her face. It’s in these imperfections that the piece comes alive! This makes me think of Marlene Dumas, who captures a similar haunting psychological complexity in her portraits. Art, like history, isn't just about grand narratives, it's about these little contradictions that catch our eye.