Cristina BanBan's vibrant, humorous paintings of unapologetically shapely women

Now the Spanish artist is back with her latest series of paintings, 'I've Got Nothing to Lose', featuring large-scale dynamic paintings and drawings made in Berlin during her recent residency at 68projects gallery.

Vibrant, bold and with a dash of hyperbolic humour, BanBan’s figurative work depicts softly curved female bodies and narratives that document her day to day life and emotions with honesty and confidence. And each of her characters performs the extremes of flexibility and motion.

Women are, of course, the stars of BanBan’s work. Their shapely forms reclaim the traditional authority of the 'male gaze' and reorient the significance of the female figure. Her women take on an active role in their presence, controlling the gaze of the viewer and addressing it in various positions of repose, erotic pleasure and dominance.

In her work, At the Studio, for example, the reclining figure sits on a red plush chair and looks decidedly out towards the viewer. Dressed in white shorts and crocs, the woman lifts up her bra, to reveal a coral-coloured nipple being held open with an oversized hand nearly two times the size of the figure’s head.

Certain parts of the human figure begin to represent certain emotions, from confident eyes to empowering large hands and the at times to a shy seductive tilt of the head, her characters gestures encompass the whole complexity of emotions that BanBan herself experiences.

The palette in BanBan's works for, I've Got Nothing to Lose, is high key and desaturated with moments of pop colour that indicate the direction of the viewer's gaze within the painting.

Rather than creating works of art purely made to shock and provoke a certain reaction, BanBan seeks to provide a sense of tranquillity and joy through much of her art. Her most important conviction is that art should be able to be understood. People get her paintings and drawings because her art is straightforward, there is no need for a complementary explanation.

Cristina BanBan: I've Got Nothing to Lose runs from 25 April until 22 June 2019 at 68projects/GALERIE KORNFELD BERLIN in Berlin. Find out more: cristinabanban.com.