Jeanine

American artist Ed Paschke painted his “Jeanine” larger than life and in extravagant colors. She is posing in profile, with her head turned toward us, her arm coolly resting on her knee. She seems to be smiling to herself, lost in thought. And what a smile. With her teeth bared, her grin is almost diabolical. Her curly hair is bunched up in violet waves to make two daring wings, her skin is bright yellow and covered in a fine violet web of lines. In the background, the yellow of her hair and the violet of her hair is repeated—she is like an alien, out of this world. In the 1960s, the art world was looking for ways to overcome traditional pictorial formats. Minimal and conceptual art worked with industrially made objects and practiced theory-laden self-reflection. There was a new consensus. Painting was dead, it was middle class and obsolete, just commercial gallery art. “Jeanine” was not painted in New York, the epicenter of American art, but in Chicago. There, Ed Paschke and other artists had joined forces and expressed their own view of everyday life in America. “Jeanine” is one of a series of portraits from the world of prostitution. That too is America, with its underground culture, and a brave multicolored work that stands as an alternative to the normative life of traditional, conservative, white society. And when we look at this work more closely, then we notice that she is not really looking at us, but is rather introspective, concerned with her own thoughts. She seems pretty confident and quite happy with being different.