Women of Algiers

Picasso's Women of Algiers, a canvas sold for $179.3 million in May 2015, set a new sales record, making it — at that time — the most expensive piece ever sold at auction. The bidding, which started at $100 million, lasted only eleven minutes.

For this first MUR Strasbourg, Kashink shows us essentially the original version of the Spanish master's work, surrounding it with two figures straight out of her own repertoire, who speak out and open up the frame.

The figure on the left dwells on the sexuality laid bare on the canvas. The figure on the right is astonished by the price the international art market has placed on this abundance of pretty feminine forms — forms unburdened by any message, softening even the boldness of the cubist Picasso.

"I don't understand how the critics failed to see the consensual roundness of these bodies, the harmony, this way of making something beautiful, in contradiction with the cultural shock that, for example, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon represented," Kashink points out.

How has the art market evolved for this particular canvas to become, as of that date, the most expensive ever sold at auction?

In this painting, Picasso revisits Delacroix and pays tribute to Matisse — it's fair to say this isn't his usual line of exploration.

Kashink's work takes a critical approach, questioning major social issues. She paints large-scale murals advocating for equal rights and marriage for all, and here, by revisiting Women of Algiers, she questions the representation of the body within its aesthetic codes. Picasso's canvas is an aestheticized version of nude bodies, with an incredible number of breasts, buttocks, and vaginas — but only one woman's head. Kashink also questions the evolution of the art market, which appears to be thriving even in times of crisis.

www.kashink.com