Marlene Dumas and the painting of (the) flesh

Abstract

Central to Marlene Dumas’s oeuvre is the depiction of human flesh in all its manifestations. By playing on the word “flesh” I will look at how she depicts children and nude adults in her work and to what extent the paintings are underpinned by expressions such as “to make one’s flesh crawl” or “the sins of the flesh”. Very few commentators have focused on Dumas’s representation of the male nude body and that will form a major part of this analysis. My reading is loosely based on Kristeva’s theory of abjection (1982).

Sentraal in Marlene Dumas se oeuvre is die uitbeelding van die menslike vlees in sy vele manifesterings. Deur te fokus op die woord “vlees” word Dumas se voorstellings van kinders en naakte volwassenes in haar skilderye bekyk en aangedui in watter mate hierdie skilderye gerugsteun word deur uitdrukkings soos “die sondes van die vlees” en “om jou vel te laat kriewel”. Min kommentaar bestaan op Dumas se voorstelling van die manlike naaktheid en dit vorm die grootste gedeelte van hierdie artikel. My analise is losweg gebaseer op Kristeva se teorie van abjeksie.