File:Lorraine Shemesh lock 2009.jpg

Painting by Lorraine Shemesh, Lock (oil on canvas, 46.75" x 78.25", 2009). The image illustrates a key body of work in Lorraine Shemesh's career beginning in the late 2000s: her large-scale Dancers series, which depict anonymous, coupled figures elaborate, sensual poses, sometimes locked in tight struggle (as in this work) or clutches. They figures are covered in hooded costumes of wide black and white bands, which when in juxtaposition with one another form patterns—influenced by African textiles (e.g., Kuba cloth), as well as mechanical objects like bicycle gears, wheels, and zippers—and often result in synthesized, seemingly imagined forms with a lively, rhythmic play of abstract geometric shapes. Critics described the paintings as "fraught with tension" and "unsettling" in their existential ambiguity. Works in this series were publicly exhibited in prominent exhibitions, discussed in art journals and press publications.

Artist Lorraine Shemesh. Copyright held by the artist.

Lorraine Shemesh

Entire artwork

Yes

The image serves an informational and educational purpose as the primary means of illustrating a key body of work in Lorraine Shemesh's career beginning in the late 2000s, when she began producing her Dancers series, large works that depicted anonymous, coupled dancers locked in tight struggle or clutches. These works departed from her buoyant "Pool" figures and hinted at darker themes of troubled desire, difficulty, and mechanistic neediness. They feature figures completely covered in hooded costumes of wide black and white bands, enacting elaborate, sensual poses against hazy, neutral grounds and contained within shallow, near-claustrophobic spaces. The patterned costumes and juxtapositions of arms and legs synthesized the bodies into larger, seemingly imagined forms with a lively, rhythmic play of abstract geometric shapes that some critics likened to the work of Sean Scully. Because the article is about an artist and her work, the omission of the image would significantly limit a reader's understanding and ability to understand this later body of work, which has brought Shemesh ongoing recognition through prominent exhibitions and coverage by major critics and publications. Shemesh's work of this type and this series is discussed in the article and by critics cited in the article.

There is no free equivalent of this or any other of this series by Lorraine Shemesh, so the image cannot be replaced by a free image.

The image will not affect the value of the original work or limit the copyright holder's rights or ability to distribute the original due to its low resolution and the general working of the art market, which values the actual work of art. Because of the low resolution, illegal copies could not be made.