Hallucinogenic pop and erotic brushstrokes at London shows exploring the female gaze

‘I’m not sure that a male artist, or a heterosexual woman artist, would paint as proudly and freely as this,’ says Anna McNay, curator of two parallel exhibitions on the female gaze in painting and photography today. The duet of shows at New Arts Project in London take the perspective of 12 queer women artists who look at each other, and themselves.
The term the ‘female gaze’ first emerged in opposition to the ‘male gaze’ coined by Laura Mulvey in her seminal essay of 1975, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, to illuminate the way women and their bodies are circumscribed by the patriarchy in culture. But, as McNay asserts, ‘the female gaze is more than just the opposite of the male gaze’. Riffing on the ideas of the radical French feminist writer Hélène Cixous, McNay says that, in 2018, ‘Woman must paint herself, must paint women and bring women to painting, from which they have been driven away as violently as from their bodies. And, to some extent, that is the goal of “Threesome”.’
Stages of Mourning IX, 2000
Interconnected with feminism, non-binary sexuality and gender, in ‘Threesome: an exhibition of three women painters’ three queer women painters attempt to broaden the discussion of the ‘female gaze’ in a direct way. British artists Sarah Jane Moon, Roxana Halls and Sadie Lee have each painted a self-portrait, a portrait of each other and a portrait of a nude model (performance artist Ursula Martinez) to bring the gaze into focus, an enquiry as to whether women see women differently, and how their sexuality affects their gaze on the female subject.
‘The key concern shared by Sarah Jane Moon, Roxana, Sadie and myself was how the gaze of a lesbian might differ from the gaze of a heterosexual woman,’ McNay explains. The portraits range in style and approach – from Lee’s powerfully erotic brushstrokes to Halls’ hallucinogenic pop. However, in their portrayal of Martinez, all three had exaggerated the subject’s crotch. Perhaps a response, McNay proffers, to the centrality of the nipple in the social media censorship maelstrom. ‘They were not unveiled to each other until the night, nor to me or the gallery until two nights before, when they were dropped off for us to hang. There was an element of unity in difference and difference in unity.’
Living Room, 2017
In ‘3x3: an exhibition of nine women photographers’, meanwhile, nine gay female photographers have taken self-portraits, some of them for the first time. ‘Again, it was an experiment in ways of looking, seeing, and being seen. By concentrating solely on their own image, the artists seek to untangle, distinguish, and, in some instances, deliberately re-confuse their own subjectivity and objecthood.’
Is there such a thing, then, as the ‘gay gaze’? ‘As a woman who likes women myself, it is hard to say whether my own gaze, enjoyment of and response to this painting is different from that of a heterosexual woman. There are so many knots and loops in this discussion, but that’s what makes it such an interesting subject to explore,’ McNay says.
Despite navigating the complexities inherent in labelling individuals and their art as ‘queer’ or ‘lesbian’, McNay adds: ‘I do think there is something more specific to the gaze in this exhibition than just the female gaze, even if it can’t be pinned down in linguistic terms. That’s really only something you can find out by coming and looking for yourself and exploring your own gaze and response to the works. ‘The gaze, after all, goes in two directions and may, or may not, be met midway.’
Portrait of Roxana Halls, 2018
INFORMATION
‘Threesome: an exhibition of three women painters’ and ‘3x3: an exhibition of nine women photographers’ are on view until 4 March. For more information, visit the New Art Projects website
ADDRESS
New Art Projects
6D Sheep Lane
London E8 4QS
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
Industrial chic meets Thai heat at the new incarnation of a beloved London restaurant
Singburi 2.0 brings all the hot and sour thrills of the original haunt in cool Shoreditch surrounds
-
Comfort, kit and enduring aesthetics make the Hyundai Santa Fe utilitarian and upmarket
Tough looks conceal premium features as Hyundai takes its plug-in hybrid SUV upmarket. Wallpaper* tries out the stylish new South Korean 7-seater
-
Goldwin 0’s first-ever performance wear is body-mapped to keep you cool
The ‘Performance Capsule’ from Goldwin 0 – an experimental offshoot of Japanese technical wear label Goldwin – draws inspiration from trail running for its meticulously tested sportswear, which uses experimental ventilation techniques to help you work out in the heat
-
Shop the gloriously mad inner workings of Gary Card’s brain in London’s Soho
Set designer and artist Gary Card has taken over London's Plaster Store – expect chaos and some really good accessories
-
Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of society
A new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality
-
After decades capturing the world’s fashion-set, photographer Johnny Rozsa picks up a paint brush
In his first exhibition of paintings, the New York-based artist celebrates the vibrancy of Tangier while rediscovering a familiar creative outlet
-
Leila Bartell’s cloudscapes are breezily distorted, a response to an evermore digital world
‘Memory Fields’ is the London-based artist’s solo exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery (until 25 July 2025)
-
A bespoke 40m mixed-media dragon is the centrepiece of Glastonbury’s new chill-out area
New for 2025 is Dragon's Tail – a space to offer some calm within Glastonbury’s late-night area with artwork by Edgar Phillips at its heart
-
Emerging artist Kasia Wozniak’s traditional photography techniques make for ethereal images
Wozniak’s photographs, taken with a 19th-century Gandolfi camera, are currently on show at Incubator, London
-
Vincent Van Gogh and Anselm Kiefer are in rich and intimate dialogue at the Royal Academy of Arts
German artist Anselm Kiefer has paid tribute to Van Gogh throughout his career. When their work is viewed together, a rich relationship is revealed
-
Alice Adams, Louise Bourgeois, and Eva Hesse delve into art’s ‘uckiness’ at The Courtauld
New exhibition ‘Abstract Erotic’ (until 14 September 2025) sees artists experiment with the grotesque