Amy Sillman

Sillman is constantly dealing with awkwardness. In Clubfoot (2011), an almost ghostly fist rises from a square, transparent form, and in such works as In Illinois (2017-2018), uneasy figures inhabit worlds of vibrant color.

In her essay for Frieze magazine titled Shit happens: Notes on Awkwardness, she emphasizes that depicting bodies can frequently be as unpleasant and awkward as having one. She is subsequently more concerned with expressing physical feelings in her paintings than depicting bodies. For her, it is more about expressing physical feelings in her paintings than depicting actual bodies. Employing a great deal of self-irony and sensitivity, the artist creates pictorial worlds in which the body is not always depicted, but can be felt in its emotional and physical state. 

Art historian Rose Higham-Stainton has noted: “Sillman (…) makes bodies that are implicit if not figurative – unheroic, unwieldy bodies that are funny ‘haha’ but also strange. Because there is something funny, almost slapstick about bodies – painting bodies and painting with bodies – when every gesture is frozen, as if caught in the act.”