MEN AND WOMEN
1998–2000

In this series, I explored feminist questions and the relationships between men and women, turning traditional gender roles on their head and questioning them. The first works, such as California Boys and Mánesáci, were created using pastel, but I later switched to oil painting. California Boys was inspired by the surf culture of the U.S. West Coast. I tried painting men in the same way men have painted women for centuries — reclining male nudes in idyllic landscapes. Gentle men playing with bunnies.

In the Mánesáci series, I simply swapped the genders of figures originally painted by Josef Mánes in the mid-19th century. The result was surprising — and not what I expected.
This series also included female portraits, the heads of specific people — my companions and peers.