Natacha Donzé’s creates mystifying paintings. By combining abstraction and figuration she relocates recognisable forms to extraordinary contexts. Ancient reliefs surface in galaxies, with unsettling constellations of corporate paraphernalia lighting up these compositions. Cartoon stars used for rating restaurants or experiences sit next to painterly ‘real’ stars, fragments of coke cans are bathed in cosmic light, whilst ruins of altars are suspended in space. By intertwining these spiritual, technological, and capitalist signifiers, Donzé’s canvases lead the viewer to question societal priorities within neo-liberalism, and to perhaps wrestle with the imbalances within their own lives. Donzé’s titles further this societal analysis, merging militant language with prosaic and religious phrases (Secular Liquid, The Stoop 2020, Commodity Zero 2020, Emissions of Decline, 2020). What runs as a constant throughout these acrylic works, is an insatiable sense of curiosity to unpick what it is that governs contemporary society, with each painting offering another cryptic clue to the puzzle. ...
