From Another World

"Water-saturated water-colors applied to paper lend the figures and portraits and their physical and physiognomic plasticity an unreal, immaterial transparency. Skin and faces become lucid. In cautious detail, the fluid coloration and outlining depict an indifferent psychosomatic state. Nuances. Body and face call to mind informal abstract forms, which can also transform into 'foreign bodies.' With regard to their content and sensuality, the nuances thrive on obtrusive or restrained stimulation. Powerful body language is delicately tinted; soft and severe facial features are woven into one another. Fashionable, highly cultivated physiognomies appear childish, infantile, alive…" T. .Osterwold, "Water-colors as physiognomies", in Marlene Dumas, wet dreams, watercolours, exh. cat., Städtischen Galerie Ravensburg, 2003, p. 16).