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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Chech Álava: Rebels

Jan 27 – Mar 29, 2020
Paseo del Prado, 8, 28014 Madrid, Spain

Chechu Álava’s paintings are pearlescent. She sees her subjects, mostly female, through a mist or deepening fog, so that a naked young woman seems not yet coalesced into personhood, or the Romanov daughters appear to be disappearing into history. Ten years ago, Álava began painting portraits of women both eminent and mythic, and they are now gathered together in “Rebels.” Look for the ghostly immanences of Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, Sylvia Plath, Colette, Marga Gil Roësset, Niki de Saint Phalle, Eva Hesse, Tina Modotti, Frida Kahlo, and Lee Miller. —L.J.

Chechu Álava, “Eva,” 2017. Courtesy of the artist.