Julie Curtiss: Monads and Dyads

This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Julie Curtiss: Monads and Dyads at White Cube, Mason’s Yard, London. It offers a comprehensive overview of Curtiss’s work to date, which includes paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Curtiss draws on a history of figuration that ranges from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French painting and the work of the Chicago Imagists to the popular imagery of comic books and manga. Deconstructing the traditional “feminine” body into vivid renderings of flowing hair and long nails, the artist juxtaposes everyday domesticity with allusions to our secret selves and reveals the uncanny within the banal through exaggerated form and saturated color.

The catalogue features nearly sixty color plates and details, illustrated essays by Erika Balsom and Simon Baker, and a conversation with the artist. Balsom’s text “Why Don’t You Smile?” contextualizes Curtiss’s work through reference to classic cinema, while Baker’s “Two-Body Problem” focuses on the influence of Surrealism. “Cherish the Gorgon,” a conversation between Curtiss and Susanna Greeves, provides further insight into the artist’s inspirations and processes.