A series of precious objects rendered in oil paint requires your intimate proximity. Tiny tactile paintings of levitating furs, beaded coin purses, costume jewelry and sequin fabrics depict trompe-l’oeil images of feminine objects commonly associated with glam, flamboyance, and the body. Gazing at these luscious surfaces, your eyes cannot help but indulge in the pleasure of looking, noticing the kink of every hair and the flicker of each bead. 

Victoria Gitman’s exhibition “Everything is Surface” at François Ghebaly presents a survey of the Argentinian artist’s twenty-year career. Gitman’s paintings are fetishistic artifacts; the sensual and vibrational quality of each painting is achieved over the course of several months. Sourcing materials from flea markets and online shops, Gitman selects objects based on how they resonate with her personally–a collective trace of the artist’s own subjectivity. In her essay “Notes on Camp,” Susan Sontag describes the essence of camp as “esoteric–something of a private code, a badge of identity even.” The alluring and allusive quality of Gitman’s work inspires a playful desire.   

Another series of paintings titled “A Beauty” features women rendered by male artists in art history, punctuating the walls as you enter and move into the second gallery. Here, Gitman offers critical art historical commentary on gendered gaze and feminine perspectives in painting (or the lack thereof). Gitman’s feminine “camp sensibility” undermines macho-modernist ideologies. The artist reminds us that feminine pleasure is a form of freedom and joy.

François Ghebaly
2245 E Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90021
On view through May 7, 2022