Magazine Review Georganne Deen: The Secret Storm & The Vogue Book of the Dead Babilonia 1808, Berkeley April 7-June 9 By Anjee Helstrup Like a child’s fairytale transformed into a haunting nightmare, there is a hideous beauty present in the work of Georganne Deen. Her exquisite paintings are psychodramas in the most visually loaded manner. The underlying, all-present anxiety that fills Deen’s work doesn’t compete with the inherent loveliness of the imagery, rather the two forces work together in a complementary manner. The work featured as “The Secret Storm” revolves around themes of lust, failure and desperation, in a manner that is simultaneously humorous and profound, rather the pathetic. The painting"Course in Miracles" represents transition, acomplishment and fear, with a naked alien like female gripping a diploma and adorned with a graduation cap. With “The Spirit in Me Salutes the Spirit in You” the word “whore” in a decidedly female handwriting garnishes the top of the piece that contains an ape decked out in a red glitter bikini marching forward with hands open and extended. Deen’s collection of paintings created on bark paper depict strong but sometimes baffled women. In the piece “Un Fuc Me (and let me live again)” she presents a tall vamp with long blond hair, decked out in knee high boots strutting a seductive stance. Her attention to detail is manifested with the two antique buttons that flank the seductive figure. The most disturbing parts of this piece are the rabbit ears that sprout from her head and the welcome mat that states “New Age Melodrama”. It is this ability to weave splendor and turmoil with ease that makes Deen’s pieces so damn impressive. With “The Vogue Book of the Dead” series, Deen explores her relationship with her deceased mother by creating surreal fashion ads. Disclosing family disfunction in a healthy manner deen relays, “The paintings reveal what I thought she was trying to tell me from the great beyond, and everything got translated into this language because fashion was the only thing we seemed to be able to discuss without losing our tempers.” With text that reads like brand name labels, these paintings sell more than fashion- they also provide insight into the human psyche. back to home page