In "Nightmare #2," Anastasia Bay employs muted colors and fluid shapes to create a surreal composition. The painting depicts abstract figures in dynamic, disconcerting poses, echoing the chaos found in theatrical or carnivalesque scenes. Bay's style features a blend of simplicity and emotion, using bold lines with minimal detail to convey movement and irony. The artwork reflects a critique of societal norms, drawing inspiration from historical figures like Ensor and Brueghel to explore themes of identity and reality through dreamlike imagery. ...
Anastasia Bay’s paintings present scenes borrowed from theater, opera or the carnivalesque scenes of Ensor or Brueghel the Elder. Her characters embody the irony of overturning society's established roles and norms at these moments of popular gathering. Bay’s work is all about contrast and balance in a very cathartic way. The choice of a precise fragment of reality in her works dissolves any narration. The mysterious, sometimes disturbing characters are caught in vibrant movements, blurring the lines of their barely sketched bodies and faces. There is a search for simplicity in her gesture, seeking for the essence of the being she is depicting. She shares with Philip Guston or Gérard Gasiorowski a bluntness in the works and the ability to express very vivid emotions through a very simple and assertive line. ...
