Genieve Figgis’ paintings share a similar dramatic bent as some Irish-English literature subjects from Edgar Allan Poe to Oscar Wilde, as well as acknowledged Old Masters such as Goya. Working in oil and acrylic and at small- to mid-scale, Genieve Figgis produces paintings rich in color, texture, humor, and the macabre. Through her work, she explores and sends-up the idealization of luxury and leisure in paintings and photographs throughout art history. Like these historical works, her paintings feature sumptuous domestic interiors and stately country homes, idyllic natural settings, and protagonists dressed in finery and engaged in such activities as feasting, horseback riding, playing piano, or attending a party. Figgis’s body of work also includes her take on the tradition of portraiture and the odalisque. In her compositions, however, all is not well. Her figures appear either faceless or as foolishly grinning, ghoul-like creatures, whose loosely rendered forms seem vulnerable and insubstantial as they merge with their lushly painted, semi-abstract surroundings.
Genieve Figgis
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Genieve Figgis, Picnic, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 x 2 cm
23 5/8 x 23 5/8 x 3/4 in
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Genieve Figgis, Victorian people, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
120 x 100 x 2 cm
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 x 3/4 in -
Genieve Figgis, Ladies in the forest (after Franz-Xavier Winterhalter), 2021
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 100 x 2 cm
31 1/2 x 39 3/8 x 3/4 in -
Genieve Figgis, Trip to Egypt, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 150 x 2 cm
39 3/8 x 59 1/8 x 3/4 in -
Genieve Figgis, Family outdoors, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 120 x 2 cm
39 3/8 x 47 1/4 x 3/4 in -
Genieve Figgis, Royal friends, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 150 x 2 cm
39 3/8 x 59 1/8 x 3/4 in -
Genieve Figgis, Waiting, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 200 x 4 cm
39 3/8 x 78 3/4 x 1 5/8 in
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Genieve Figgis, Tudors, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 120 x 2 cm
39 3/8 x 47 1/4 x 3/4 in
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Genieve Figgis, Dinner, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
120 x 200 x 4 cm
47 1/4 x 78 3/4 x 1 5/8 in
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Genieve Figgis, Imaginary family, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 120 x 2 cm
39 3/8 x 47 1/4 x 3/4 in
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Genieve Figgis, Day out with birds, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 140 x 2 cm
39 3/8 x 55 1/8 x 3/4 in
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Genieve Figgis, Fashion shoot, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
70 x 70 cm
27 1/2 x 27 1/2 in -
Genieve Figgis, Keep smiling, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 80 x 2 cm
39 3/8 x 31 1/2 x 3/4 in
Exhibitions
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The Pursuit of happiness
— • Paris, Turenne -
Immortal Reflection
— • New York -
August Presentation
— • Aspen -
Salon de Peinture
— • New York -
Un Hiver à Paris
— • Paris, Front Space -
Imaginary Friends
— • London -
Painting Someone, Group show
— • Shanghai -
Lineup
— • New York -
Floating World
— • Shanghai -
Wish you were here
— • Paris -
What we do in the shadows
— • Brussels -
All the Light We Cannot See
— • London, Savile Row
Museum Exhibitions
Selected press
- 'Success is temporal... I feel success only when I am making the work', July 2021 — 412.3 kB
- Niall MacMonagle, 'In studio with Genieve Figgis', Image, June 2021 — 7.8 MB
- Cusson Cheng, 'Genieve Figgis', Art and Piece, October 2020 — 17.1 MB
- Thibaut Wychowanok, ‘Genieve Figgis et Almine Rech’, Numero Art, June - September, 2020 — 455.7 kB
- 'Desire: from the 20th Century to the Digital Age', Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, September 2019 - March 2020 — 434.2 kB
- ‘Fortune, Prowess and Alchemy’, Irish Arts Review, Cian McLoughlin, March 2019 — 11.9 MB
- 'The Art of Fashion,' Harper's Bazar, February 2019, pgs. 122 - 125. — 625.3 kB
- Judicael Lavrador, ‘Ces Peintres qui racontent des histoires...’, Beaux-Arts Magazine, February 2019 — 330.7 kB
- 'Genieve Figgis', Artforum, 1st April 2018 — 670.5 kB
- 'Genieve Figgis 3/3 - Art is a Good Fealing First then Luck', 27th February 2018 — 119.8 kB
- 'Genieve Figgis 2/3 - Art is Searching', 23th February 2018 — 147.3 kB
- 'Genieve Figgis 1/3 - Art as as Second Life', 19th February 2018 — 116.8 kB
- Philippe Dagen, 'Sélection galerie : Genieve Figgis chez Almine Rech’, Le Monde, 2nd February 2018 — 851.1 kB
- Paige Silveria, ‘AN INTERVIEW WITH GENIEVE FIGGIS’, Purple Diary, 2nd January 2018 — 339.9 kB
- Kristin Farr, 'Genieve Figgis. Theater of the Obsessed', Juxtapoz, December 2017 — 2.2 MB
- Padraic E.Moore, 'What we do in the shadows', THE VISUAL ARTIST'S NEWS SHEET, September-October 2017' — 1.4 MB
- Kathleen Madden, ‘Genieve Figgis’, Artforum, 27th July 2014 — 31.8 kB
- Dodie Kazanjlan, 'Genieve Figgis- What is Beauty?', VOGUE, 12th July 2017 — 549.6 kB
- Peter Gill, 'Genieve Figgis : what we do in the shadows', INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITIONS, July, 2017 — 6.7 MB
- Judicaël Lavrador, ‘Cinq nouvelles tendances de la peinture’, Beaux Arts magazine, February 2017 — 457.6 kB
- Catarina Vaz, 'Genieve Figgis interview', ARM, June 2017 — 1.0 MB
- Liesbeth Langouche, 'Collectionneurs at Art Brussels', COLLECT ART ANTIQUES AUCTIONS, n°471, April 2017 — 942.1 kB
- Jessica D.Wessel, 'Genieve Figgis Interview', CRUSH Fanzine, 4th January 2017 — 387.2 kB
- ‘Genieve Figgis - Why I Paint’, Phaidon, 2016 — 504.3 kB
- 'Interview: Genieve Figgis', Parterre de Rois, April 2016 — 2.8 MB
- Dominique Mucols, 'Genieve Figgis', Flaunt Magazine, April 2016 — 1.0 MB
- Gemma Tipton, 'People to watch in 2018 : Arts', THE IRISH TIMES, Saturday, 9th January, 2016 — 276.2 kB
- Ben Eastham, ‘Up and Coming:From Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains, Genieve Figgis Paints Dark Narratives of Previous Worlds’, Artsy, 16th November 2015 — 2.0 MB
- '25 Must-See Shows This November', Artsy, 27th October 2015 — 192.2 kB
- Olivia Parkes, ‘The Irish Artist Attacking the Female Figure with Pain’, Broadly.vice.com, 23rd October 2015 — 1.0 MB
- Roberta Smith, ‘Genieve Figgis:’Good Morning,Midnight’, The New York Times, 23rd October 2014 — 393.0 kB
- ‘New York - Genieve Figgis:’Good Morning,Midnight’ at Half Gallery through October 25th, 2014’, Art Observed, 22nd October 2014 — 532.7 kB
- ‘Artist Brings Back Rococo Painting And Leaves It Out to Rot’, Huffington Post, 27th September 2014 — 1.5 MB