O.C. Yerebakan reviews Genieve Figgis: Goodmorning, Midnight at Half Gallery, New York, on view through October 25, 2014.

Yerebakan writes that Figgis "conjures a particular reliance on and subversion of classic painterly formats by pioneers Francis Bacon to Jean-Henoré Fragonard, the latter being gloriously reminisced in The Swing after Fragonard. The scene is the same in all its bucolic, baroque glory, yet Figgis’ treatment of her figures renders their poses and movements as blurry and violent, giving a certain unstable nature… Going back to the theatrical and exaggerated visuals of European aristocracy, Figgis tears apart her figures as they struggle to retain their human forms against her fierce brushstrokes. The artist distorts all the figurative power the elegant ladies and well-dressed gentlemen carry, blending them into a turbulence of complex abstraction. Long rides on horse backs or brief intimate encounters evolve into boisterous banquets of potent colors and unrecognizable narratives."