URBAN INTIMACY: THE MANICURE

MAYA MAXWELL

FIGURE 6

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Gesso and charcoal pencil on paper

FIGURE 7

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Pencil on paper

The desire to take on the subject of manicures stemmed from visual and contextual reasons. The spatial qualities of the manicure process are compelling—the space between two people, the aggressive and gentle movement of the hands performing the task, and the passivity and malleability of the recipient’s hands. The anonymous, mechanical nature of the black apron (worn by the manicurist) is a backdrop for the false intimacy of hands being massaged and conditioned, the nails painted. In this room there is an incredible juxtaposition of intimacy and alienation, of nurturing in exchange for currency.

Many factors came into play during the production of the work. I wanted to retain the energy of the place and experience while working from photographs in a studio. In order to avoid the rigidity of emulating a single frozen image and a predetermined composition, multiple photographs were printed and displayed. Different scales and mediums were attempted. Some of the works explored a quiet precision while others focused on gestural energy. The question of narrative came up: To what extent is context necessary, and at what point does context become narrative? To what extent is narrative a legitimate element in drawing and when is it illustrative? The interest for me lay in the search—rigor of process, the energy of experimentation, and the memory of experience—not in one answer. The strongest drawings retained all of these elements, but revealed none. They existed autonomously.