Gallery : the art magazine from Gallery Delta

16
painting are not detailed. These paintings
contrast sharply with the intense inside-life
detailed in Pamela. Thandi. and //; the
Bedroom.
In this series of portraits Jali further
develops his studies of woman and of
constricted spaces. In the Bedroom shows a
naked woman so large she takes up almost
all the space in the room. Pamela is a
woman stripped down to her lacy
underwear, looking in her mirror. Thandi.
who is also engaged in her reflection,
displays her fulsome back to the viewer
while the front of her body is revealed in the
mirror before her; she loo is a giantess who
almost fills the room. These naked figures
may underline Jali's intrusive urge to lay
bare the details of the female body. They
appear to be painted indoors, very close to
the model, looking directly at her.
Although the titles of the portraits suggest
different characters the women look very
similar: naked, large, with red lips and
processed hair. Furthermore, they all enjoy
wine as suggested by the presence of wine
bottles and long-stemmed glasses on their
dressing tables. Beds emphasise the sexual
nature of the encounters. Not allowing for
the complexity of human behaviour, these
women present a stereotype — the woman
who has access to money and loves leisure,
the temptress that is eager to seduce a man.
This 'she' subverts the ideal of woman in
the family and society that is portrayed in
the majority of Jali"s paintings. This 'she' is
beautiful in the physical way that traditional
black Zimbabwean women are supposed to
be; large, solid and powerful. Stability and
instability are both evoked. Although the
bedrooms look ordered, there is an
underlying tension perhaps home out of the
conflict of negotiating this relationship with
'woman' who should be the source of
stability. When asked why he painted the
portraits Jali simply replied, "They sell well."
And they did sell.
(anti clockwise from the top) James
Jali, M/g/i Density, 1 999, gouache
James Jali, Pamela, 1999, gouache
James Jali, Thandi, 1999, gouache
James Jali, In tite Bedroom, 1999,
gouache