Joanna Woś

Focus Section
12 – 16 October 2022

In the selection of the works presented at Frieze London 2022 the artist evoke religious, historical imagery – as in the reference to the fresco The Feast of Herod (1466) being part of the cycle Stories of St. Stephen and St. John the Baptist by Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi (1406 – 1469) located in the Cappella Mag- giore of the Prato Cathedral. In the paintings, Woś echoes the figure of Salome dancing – a compelling motive in the fresco – replacing it with herself and restaging the Lippi’s masterpieces, which distinctly unfolds into a perplexing scenes in toned-down yet vivid hues. The artist does not limit herself to one expressive motive – the paintings also reminiscent one-act tragedy by Oscar Wilde Salome, which orriginally depicted the seduction of John the Baptist by Salome (the step-dauther of Herod Antipas) and her death on Herod’s orders […]