Ellen Antico's 'SIRENS' at Galerie Ruttkowski;68 Challenges Monstrous Domestication

Galerie Ruttkowski;68 in Paris presents 'SIRENS,' the third solo exhibition of Australian-born, Brooklyn-based artist Ellen Antico (b. 1989, Sydney). The show features a series of large-format paintings that depict entangled, blueish, almost rotting bodies with dissolving faces, challenging binary gender norms and the voyeuristic gaze. Antico reclaims the term 'Freak' to dignify unclassifiable figures who simply exist. The siren motif embodies a dual reading—fascinating and dangerous—while the swan motif, emerging organically in her practice, evokes consent and the myth of Leda, where Zeus disguised as a swan rapes Leda. Works like 'Rosalie' present a flayed swan, stripped of vitality, as a banquet ornament. The artist expresses dismay at audiences who automatically gender her figures as female, questioning what defines a woman. The exhibition runs at Galerie Ruttkowski;68, with photographs by Thibault Jorge.