Marianna Rothen

I discovered photographer Marianna Rothen thanks to my lovely friend Stephanie from Tea and Cactus. A few weeks ago I was speculating anxiously on the possibilities of finding new fresh blood to talk about on the blog after realizing that I was succumbing to a state of mild boredom. I wanted to see memorable imagery, far from the mainstream repertoire, original and maybe a little bit subversive. Yesterday, I suddenly remembered about the prodigiously talented Marianna Rothen after seeing her on Tales of Endearment (as it turns out, she used to be a model). Not much fuss seems to have been made about her but I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly found herself championed by the fashion industry. Her series always feature women. They suggest the sixties/seventies and have something very cinematic about them: two influences that recur in her work almost constantly without ever compromising its innate individuality. Anyway, I think she deserves to be much better known and I recommend looking at her website, an eye-opener.

Mat and I went to see the Lucian Freud exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery on Sunday. I’m not too sure how I feel about the celebrated artist’s paintings. The huge expanses of flesh wrestling with knots and accumulations of pigment applied in a sort of muddy way make for highly unattractive and bizarre pictures!

All pictures courtesy of Marianna Rothen