No one could have painted a Van Eyck before the development of oil paint, no one could have made a Courbet before the industrial revolution, and no one could have created a Dali before the emergence of psychoanalysis. Thus, it turns out that the art we call timeless is actually always very timely. It is always the product of the technology and ideology in which it was baptized. This is also the case with the work of Kat Bové.
Her work shamelessly imitates mirror selfies, refers to the Instagram interface, and parodies influencer culture. Her work is made using materials such as fluorescent acrylic paint, graffiti, and Posca markers. Her style is influenced by cartoons and advertising art. The hyper-contemporary iconography she employs will be as cryptic for future generations as that of Greek amphorae or Egyptian sarcophagi. In every possible way, Bové's art reflects the moment it was created. Nowhere is this clearer to me than in the way the artist engages with one of the central themes of the exhibition: femininity.
