Miriam CahnNach Diane Arbus, 2012

On the pale body with yellow and green
reflections, two breasts or pectorals, in matching tones, are hidden. The face
takes on the appearance of a mask and the palest streaks of paint suggest hair.
The artist deliberately painted a kind of half-man, half-woman being, a
semi-monster, which one cannot identify without the genitals. Hereby, Cahn
refuses the sexualisation of her characters. She has no intention of making a
distinction between men and women. Nach Diane Arbus means
‘after Diane Arbus’. If we compare the works of the two artists, we find in
Arbus a resolve to photograph strange and almost unreal people and make them
sometimes inhuman. The influence of the photographer is most certainly found in
the character painted by Cahn.