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Gallery 16

March 4 - May 1, 2011

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501 Third Street San Francisco, CA 94107
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Tale Spin
Opening reception on Friday March 4 from 6 - 9pm Gallery 16 is pleased to present "Tale Spin," a new body of work by DEBORAH OROPALLO. "Tale Spin" consists of a group of twenty-two new pieces, equal parts painting, printmaking and collage. Oropallo uses these techniques to construct radically composed portraits of imaginary woman. As source material for these compositions, Oropallo draws upon her intrigue with early traditions of children's fairy tales. Fairy tales were moral plays meant to scare girls into being good. In keeping with this tradition, these new paintings are cautionary tales, intended to be dark, fractured, edgy, sexy, and funny. "Starvation and abandonment of children, rape, and corporeal punishment, ruthless exploitation – these are some of the conditions that are at the root of Fairy tales. I find that the imagined struggles of little girls in the woods make good material for paintings because they are internalized, potent and explosive. We all remember the power these tales had, and how they mystified us –What did they intend to warn us of? Why should we be afraid??" - Deborah Oropallo. These portraits embody the complexities of girls/women, their submissive/dominant roles, and touch on their corresponding thematic costumes. They pose the questions: are fantasy, fairy tale and desire pure fiction? Or are they simply a rebellion against conventional morality? Does the popularity of fetish fashion stem from the fact that it makes women appear very powerful? Oropallo states: "These questions and issues have led me to explore fashion and fairy tale as a symbolic system linked to the expression of female sexuality and erotic behavior."