Stella Vine

Joancrawfordsface recently drew my attention to London painter Stella Vine, who I'd never seen before. I don't know if my admiration will last, but at the moment I find a couple of her paintings really appealing. Especially this one, which apparently caught Charles Saatchi's eye two years ago.

I absolutely love it, and I couldn't care less that Vine used to be a stripper, is a naive artist, etc. I just love the nasty wit, combined with empathy for Diana. Yes, some of her paintings are pop satire that probably won't age well, but at her best, like in this Diana painting, she's getting at something much bigger and realer than a one-liner about the celebrity of the moment.

Here she is at work on a new one about some empty-head from Celebrity Big Brother named Chantelle:

Joan's boyfriend is not a fan, declaring "Awful! Spitting Image meets Elizabeth Peyton, except with none of the feeling for line or colour of Miss Peyton's work (though admittedly Vine has chosen more well-deserving subjects)."

I don't know about that. But I was surprised the Diana painting was included in the Guardian's list of the worst paintings ever. A London caricaturist named David Andrews said to the Guardian that "it's very flat and dead. There's no life in it, no volume. It looks like a child could have done it. Rubbish." Then again, that list includes other paintings I really like, including a portrait of Germaine Greer by one of my favorite painters, Paula Rego.

One of the worst paintings ever? I really don't think so.

Anyhow, after the jump, more Vine paintings (and a bit of commentary).


As Joan said, "this one of jacqueline du pre captured something of her disability, i think." It made me laugh (but then again I'm sometimes a sucker for cheap, taboo-busting jokes).

I also enjoyed

(perhaps there, though, she was revisiting her early success, another victim of the stupid art market's pressure to maintain one's brand as an artist)



Not so super, Superman.