Smiley has no nose

Smiley has no nose
 2015

Gallery location
Not on display
 

About this work

Rich in narrative and irony, Tala Madani’s work depicts darkly comic and often theatrical stories featuring bald, middle- aged men as the main protagonists. In each of these three paintings, any supposed authority of the men is undermined in a critique of power relations, including that of male privilege. Madani upsets art-historical conventions, openly embracing caricature, gags and disarming visual simplicity. Her approach demonstrates a contemporary sense of sequencing, movement and speed influenced by cartoons, cinema, videos and television.

Artwork Details

Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
152.5 × 152.3 cm
Place/s of Execution
Los Angeles, California, United States
Inscription
inscribed in fibre-tipped pen on reverse u.r.: (…illeg.) 2015
Accession Number
2017.200
Department
Contemporary Art
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased NGV Foundation with the assistance of Anthony Adair and Karen McLeod Adair, 2017
© Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Reproduction requests
Gallery location
Not on display
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Relationships and Interactions
Subjects (specific)
feminism gesture men (male humans) simplicity (artistic concept) undress
Movements
Contemporary (style of art)

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