Corporal Acts of Mercy: Comfort the Afflicted
Artist
Victoria Carlson
(American, born 1960)
Datecirca 2006
MediumWatercolor, ink on paper
DimensionsImage: 7 1/4 × 8 5/8 in. (18.4 × 21.9 cm)
Support: 17 1/8 × 14 13/16 in. (43.5 × 37.6 cm)
Support: 17 1/8 × 14 13/16 in. (43.5 × 37.6 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Virginia C. Hopkins, 2012
Object number2012.24.3
DescriptionOlder female figure in yoga clothes and wearing nursing hat in contortionist pose, supporting her weight on two hands with one leg over head and the other leg coming out toward viewer.eMuseum Notes
New Mexico-based artist Victoria Carlson works within a tradition of satire in art in her series Contortionists, which includes this work. With her Contortionists, she makes a commentary on human foibles, and her work has been interpreted as the contortionist poses reflecting some internal angst or confusion. She titles these works within the framework of sins and merits, suggesting that the distorted poses of these characters is not just individual but relates in some way to the human condition.
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