Chris and Chelsea examine the nuance and cultural mythology behind storybooks and narratives of myth, grounded in childhood experience. The artists interrogate and subvert the ‘supposed high ideals’ and morally instructive content of Academic painting, while playing with the conventions of the genre.
Their work delves into the female ‘human condition’, attempting to present the female voice so often erased from the Art Historical canon. Her lived experience drives a depiction of female prominence, through “heroic, unmissable” figures.
Aerfeldt takes pleasure in contravening the serious ‘aura’ of Academy painting and its Classical narratives, reimagining their protagonists through contemporary ‘low art’ references and a juxtaposition of sincerity and darkly funny humour.
