Nestled in the gallery-lined streets of Le Marais, Carmen Belean’s current solo exhibition at Adrian Sutton Gallery provides a welcome taste of warmer days. Belean, a Romanian artist with an eye for idyllic landscapes, brings her vivid paintings and watercolors to the space. Her large-scale tableaus are awash with glowing aquamarine tones, and are inspired by photographic studies of Greek beachside resorts — in particular, the coastal suburbs of Athens. This sliver of paradise provides a sanctuary for sojourners, a quality which Belean effortlessly captures. Reminiscent of David Hockney’s placid vistas or Salomón Huerta’s swimming pools, her paintings go a step further: companionship replaces solitude, and a convivial atmosphere pervades the cheery summer scenes.
In conversation with gallery director Mathilde Le Coz, I reflected upon how women are traditionally depicted in “bathing scenes”. Think Corot’s Diana Surprised at Her Bath (1836) — the element of eroticism and invasion of privacy is ever-present in many such works by male artists. Belean reclaims the gendered associations of bathing in art history, however, and creates a space of feminine liberation. The women in her tableaus bathe for their own recreation, without erotic nuances or the male gaze. Sexualization is stripped away, leaving a paradisiacal space where the bathers can exist in peaceful harmony. These utopic snapshots are as calming as they are empowering. For a mini-escape from the cold February temperatures in Paris, head to Adrian Sutton Gallery — you’ll feel like you’re in Greece!
