12 Optical Paintings That Allude To Vibrating Women By Marina Kappos

Marina Kappos uses acrylics in a flat and graphic style, often applying transparent layers to create an optical effect in her paintings. Her artwork attempts to echo the buzz caused by human connections. 

#1 “188” (2024)

 

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#2 “199 (Sister 1)” (2024)

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Explaining her artwork, Kappos mentioned, “My paintings depict vibrating women, an optical trick, but one that makes it feel like they are dancing in their confined spaces. Like echoes, the repeated motifs have a Doppler effect, where there is an increase or decrease in frequency of light depending on where you stand. The ethereal, transparent layers of paint eventually become portraits, sometimes melding into landscape – an outline of a lip, a profile, the shape of hair and hands, appear out of focus, simply buzzing or humming along.”

#3 “Vibrating Woman” (2020)

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#4

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#5

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#6

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#7 “Sun Study (Aurora)” (2024)

 

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#8 “179” (2024)

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#9

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#10 “Ultraviolet Study (Tangle)” (2024)

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Kappos further elaborated, “The paintings depict many faces at once. Ideas of frequency, resonance and connection have evolved in my most recent paintings, including the scientific theory of Quantum Entanglement, in which there is an invisible link between distant particles that allows one to instantly affect the other. Einstein called this phenomenon “spooky action at a distance”. When I first heard the phrase, it immediately felt like the perfect title for a show, and because of the word “spooky”, it inspired a new motif in the paintings – a skull. In a peculiar way, I can relate to distant particles affecting one another because I have an identical twin sister. I have lived with a seemingly mirror reflection of my entire life. We are interconnected in surprising ways, and our life trajectories have always followed similar paths, even though we are independent people living on opposite coasts. Sometimes when I hear her voice, it feels as if it’s my own, almost like an echo. My paintings, with their repetitive imagery, buzzing frequency and optical motion, remind us that what we think of as concrete or separate, distinct objects, and even our own bodies, are more fluid than we realise. We are inextricably linked to one another and our surroundings. Where does the body end and the universe begin? Vibration is a clue that it’s all very closely related.”

#11 “Spooky Action Study (Skull)” (2024)

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#12 “Ultraviolet Study (Night Rider” (2024)

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#13 “Sun Study (Midnight)” (2024)

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Discussing the inspiration that influenced her decision to pursue this artform, Kappos divulged, “I have wanted to be an artist since I was young and at 16-years-old, I applied to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) and began studying art. I eventually received an MFA from Yale University and have gone on to exhibit my work mainly in NYC, LA, Tokyo, and most recently, Paris.

When I was young, I was particularly drawn to minimal colour field paintings. I would go to museums as a kid and stand in front of a Mark Rothko painting and feel deep emotion from colour. It was a transcendent experience, and my love for visual art began to grow.”

#14 “199 (Sister 2)” (2024)

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When asked about her creative process, Kappos revealed, “My creative process is multi-layered. I start with drawings, making simple images, a profile of a face, a hand or even just a circle. I experiment with layering and combining the elements and the image begins to slowly build up. My motifs are often simplified and reduced to their most basic shapes, but the concepts that I’m exploring are complex. The narratives that inspire me are a spiderweb of thoughts and interconnectedness.”