In "Catherine (2)," Annabelle Agbo Godeau uses a rich palette of earthy tones and realistic rendering to create an intimate portrait of a woman’s face, with a hand pulling down her lower eyelid, adding a sense of vulnerability and scrutiny. The painting's hyperrealistic style and emotional depth capture an intense moment, making the viewer reflect on themes of identity and perception. Godeau's technique of layering and meticulous detailing aligns with her exploration of race and identity, drawing from personal and cultural narratives to invoke contemplation and challenge societal assumptions. ...
Annabelle Agbo Godeau is a Düsseldorf-based artist whose work explores questions of race, identity, and the complexities of representation through the lens of her French, German, and Beninese heritage. Drawing from cinema, literature, and popular culture, she investigates how personal and cultural histories intersect, and how stereotypes shape perceptions of self and other. Working across painting, works on paper, and installation, Godeau weaves fragmented narratives through visual metaphors of concealment, revelation, and transformation. She draws from archival materials, film stills, and found imagery, isolating and abstracting details to create new contexts that subtly unsettle the viewer’s assumptions. Her works on transparent waxed paper often form immersive installations, bringing together disparate references in open-ended visual environments. In her highly rendered paintings, figures and objects hover between presence and absence, evoking ambiguity and movement. The process itself—layered, meticulous, and materially sensitive—underscores themes of impermanence and slow transformation central to her practice.
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Based in a 360 sqm gallery in Woodstock, Cape Town, blank was founded by Jonathan Garnham as a project space in 2005 and transitioned into a commercial gallery during 2012. The gallery represents emerging and increasingly established artists from the region in a critically engaged programme that emphasises contemporaneity, with a focus on concept and abstraction in the African context. With an exhibition programme that has a reputation for shaping the discourse around contemporary art in South(ern) Africa, and participation in prominent local and international art fairs, we seek to place our artists' work in a wide range of private and institutional collections. In addition, blank continues to promote the visual arts in our community through ongoing projects that support the sector. ...
