TAL R "ALTSTADT GIRL" @ Cheim & Read in New York

Cheim & Read presents an exhibition of recent paintings and drawings by Copenhagen-based artist Tal R. For the past two years, Tal R has been drawing women in confined interior spaces โ€“ hotel rooms, bedrooms, corridors, in the shower, and in front of mirrors. Though carefully chosen, his subjects are strangers and casual acquaintances. Tal Rโ€™s artistic process begins when he asks the women to pose for him: the foundation of his paintings rest on the anxiety of an uncertain exchange. This provides his work with palpable intensity and, as he notes, โ€œawkwardness,โ€ and is further emphasized by his use of saturated color and off-kilter compositions. Altstadt Girl will be on view until February 14, 2015 at Cheim & Read, 547 West 25 Street, New York. photographs by Agnes Fischer