Exhibitions
Anna Weyant bursts into the Thyssen with her ironic and melancholic universe
The universe of Anna Weyant arrives at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, marking the first time the Calgary-based artist has exhibited in a museum. With Gagosian's help, her work and gaze create a key combination in a unique, unsettling exhibition filled with Baroque-style paintings where the discomfort of something terrible can always happen.
From July 15 to October 12, curated by Guillermo Solana, the exhibition brings together 26 works, including oil paintings and works on paper, alongside pieces from the Thyssen Museum's permanent collection by Magritte, Balthus, and Preti. Entering the exhibition hall and engaging in conversation with Anna Weyant's work is like entering an uncomfortable painting, where she combines dreamlike and everyday atmospheres with elements of surrealism and American pop culture, always in parallel with the presence of humor in her work.
Anna Weyant, Feted, 2020, Rick Salomon Collection, © Anna Weyant
Weyant, like few other artists today, addresses female adolescence, always with ironic details, dark humor, and a critical look at youthful eroticism. Weyant is a perfectionist, highly figurative, somber, and at times disturbing. Her creations sometimes transport us back in time, to 17th-century Dutch masters such as Frans Hals and Judith Leyster. The artist has selected a series of paintings that engage deeply with her creative approach, finding points of connection with her own works in spaces charged with ambiguity and shadows. Pieces such as Piazzetta 's Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in Her Right Hand and Christian Schad 's Portrait of Dr. Haustein resonate with central themes in Weyant's universe, such as the imminence of tragedy and the capture of the ephemeral.
Anna Weyant, She Drives my Crazy, 2022, Private Collection of Marc Jacobs, © Anna Weyant
Elements such as color range, light, and shadow are other characteristic codes in the work of Anna Weyant (Calgary, 1995). She debuted in 2019 at the 56 Henry Gallery in New York with Welcome to the Dolhouse and in 2022 became the youngest artist represented by the powerful Gagosian. Weyant has already exhibited in Los Angeles, Paris, London, and Tokyo, before arriving at her first museum exhibition at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.
Anna Weyant is a versatile, multifaceted artist on the rise: she fuses a foundation of classical training with a contemporary and inquisitive perspective, approaching feminine symbolism with a blend of irony and nostalgia. Her career has rapidly gained momentum, driven by a unique aesthetic, the backing of an influential gallery, and an outstanding reception from both critics and the art market.
Anna Weyant, Emma, 2022, Roman Family Collection, © Anna Weyant
