The artist Cristina BanBan, with this new body of work, reveals herself once again full-fledged and powerful. 

As stated by herself,&nbsp;Cristina BanBan&nbsp;is &quot;attacking the canvas&#39;&nbsp;with her intense brush strokes shaping the female anatomy and generous forms. Her representation of women is raw, confident, and nurturing. Looking at Cristina BanBan&#39;s paintings is a liberation from objectification. Women are present, truthful, naked, and serious. Nothing is understated in Cristina BanBan&#39;s world of female power.

Hands, eyes, buttocks, and nipples, there is nothing to be hidden or censored. These are real women, in real life.

There is so much to be said about Cristina BanBan&#39;s incredible new take on painting. BanBan&#39;s striking paint technique and color palette can recall historic masterworks by Francis Bacon, Willem de Kooning, or even Les Demoiselles d&#39;Avignon&nbsp;by Picasso.

However, BanBan&#39;s subjects are not posing, they appear relaxed, in their privacy, unobserved.

Born and raised in Barcelona and based in New York, Cristina BanBan&#39;s paintings echoes the artist&#39;s journey between her voluptuous Spanish culture and an assertive New York lifestyle.

(Photo : Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the Artist and Perrotin

Interview with Cristina BanBan

How did moving to New York affect your practice? 
Within months of moving to New York, the pandemic began. When the restrictions were imposed, I was able to spend lockdown working in isolation without distraction. This long period of solitude wasn&#39;t unusual for me. As many artists often do, I spend a lot of time away from others, but during this specific period, I became a total hermit. As a result, my technique changed, and the maturity of the paintings as well, in my opinion. It has been a year since I shifted from acrylic paint to oil paint, and that has been a total revelation for me.

Your subjects are extremely present and supersized God-like characters. What is your relationship with your characters? 
I work with the body, as both medium and muse, as it is my vehicle for storytelling. My paintings contend with intimacy, relationships, and everyday life. The robust and exaggerated forms allow me to accentuate certain movements and the character&#39;s body language.

Do the people in your paintings exist in real life or are they fictional, or self-portraits? 
All the paintings are deeply personal and result from an introspective gaze Often, I base paintings on my own features, like in &quot;Dos Caras de Una Misma Moneda,&quot; or people that are close. Another example is &quot;Irene and Sara Peeling Potatoes in Greenpoint.&quot; These are two friends of mine in their Brooklyn apartment. It was an intimate and real scene, so did not need to change the characters or the context. In other works, though, the characters are fictional, like in &quot;Acto Tercero&quot; or &quot;Before the Splash.&quot;

You talk about &quot;Morri&ntilde;a&quot; &ndash; a nostalgia for your home country. Were you able to travel home during the pandemic? Did this impact your work? 
I spent the last two years working non-stop in New York; it was a very productive time for me in the studio. Due to covid restrictions, I couldn&#39;t visit Spain, so I was deeply homesick, and that longing is reflected in my&nbsp;work.

You take inspiration from art history and masters like Pablo Picasso, but which living artist do you most admire? 
I admire Paula Rego, Louise Bonnet, Tal R, my friend Cristina de Miguel, Lisa Yuskavage, Lynnette Yiadom-Boakye, Daniel Richter, Rose Wylie, and George Rouy,&hellip;

What is next for Cristina BanBan? 
Keep experimenting; keep working hard in my studio.

&nbsp;

CRISTINA BANBAN, Exhibition until May 28, 2022 
PERROTIN PARIS, 76 rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris 
www.perrotin.com

Cristina BanBan, Les Senyoretes, 2021, Oil, oil stick on linen,182.9 x 228.6 cm | 72 x 90 inch. Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin

Cristina BanBan, Composition II, 2021, Oil, oil stick on linen, 228.6 x 182.9 cm | 90 x 72 inch. Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin

A full-fledged self-study, Cristina BanBan’s debut solo show in France

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