Portraits XXL
"One of my favourite themes is the realistic portrait. All that is close to figurative art fascinates me. In my work, I always research the aesthetic or academic. "
Taurua’s large-scale portraits focus on celebrating the symmetry and beauty found within female faces – elements she admires since her life-changing car accident. Taurua paints the balance that she wants to see and feel in herself post-trauma, and in doing so regains some of the control she was forced to relinquish earlier in life.
Typical of her art, Taurua uses this body of work to challenge the status quo. She tackles head-on the traditionally male-dominated realm of large portraits to boldly show that women have the skill and strength to match and exceed the men who have gone before.
Taurua uses the art form itself to inspire women and prove that power and beauty are not mutually exclusive.
We know that aesthetics is incompatible with the contemporary movement, but for me, the word “aesthetic” designates neither a theory of reception nor the appreciation of a work of art, it involves a personal experience or encounter with present events.
In this art, I have chosen women who reflect perfect symmetry in order to recover mine that I lost in an accident. I want to deflect the gaze on to what I can do, not what I have lost.
Technique: Oil on canvas, 150X120cm, 2021