The 'Gutsy' World of Paula Rego

The Portuguese born,London based artist, Paula Rego has described her paintings as ‘gutsy’-a word which not only captures the brutal honesty and provocative spirit of her work but also something truly visceral in both content and technique. For me Rego’s strength and power comes from the fact that she really hits us, bludgeons our senses, challenges us to confront the painful truths of our society and history: war, poverty, sexual discrimination, and cruelty, all expressed with the most astounding painterly skill . These are not images which you can just walk past-these are images which pull you in, toss and turn your emotions in both a painful and compassionate manner. Since the 1960, many of her works have originated in news stories as in the case of Julieta from 1964: a vibrant collage, so animated with acidic pinks and purples, it feels like a a child’s TV cartoon. When you get closer disembodied figures begin to appear: a ghost like figure hanging, almost in a crucified position So what at first seemed like a joyous display reveals something far more sinister. ‘Julieta’ is about a technician who was electrocuted while working on an electricity pylon. His wife witnessed the death. It is a work filled with anger about the poor conditions and suffering of workers.

It is not one of her better known paintings- it was the first time I had seen it- but it’s typical of Rego, an artist who deals in brutal storytelling, using fairytales, nursery rhymes and folklore to carry each message through. Every image is like a theatrical performance, each one packed with drama and for me, far more dramatic and powerful than anything Andy Warhol could come up with in his Death and Disaster series from the same period.

The magnificent painting War (2003) was inspired by the invasion of Iraq and a photograph Rego saw in the newspaper. It combines realism and fantasy in an almost surreal manner; the innocence of floppy toys and frilly dresses in a nightmarish conflation with death and destruction.

The day I visited Tate Britain’s stunning retrospective of her work (Paula Rego at Tate Britain until 24th October,2021), lawmakers in Texas had just voted to ban abortions after 6 weeks-even in cases of rape or incest.

Rego’s harrowing abortion series was produced in 1998, made in response to a referendum in Portugal which failed to legalise abortion. A schoolgirl lies hunched on a bed, in agony after a backstreet abortion. Another clutches a cushion on the floor. A woman sits with her knees apart, face of rictus pain, mouth tight shut so she does not cry out as the plastic bucket awaits. The effect of this series was credited with helping to sway public opinion to run a second referendum in 2007 which finally legalised abortion. Seeing these now, in light of the ruling in Texas, made my blood boil. One wonders if these images would ever have any impact upon the Texan right wing ideologues. These are tragic masterpieces and are testament to the power of art.

It is unbearably prescient that this work, Escape, was chosen as the last work in this wonderful show of Paula Rego, an artist who has consistently made work that responds to and fights injustice, especially against women. From the massive assault on democratic rights of women in Texas to Afghanistan’s lurch into misogynistic tyranny, this image of a woman, glowing in a golden dress ,clutching her child, and striding forward, gives us some glimmer of hope that there might be an Escape, and some chance of justice for ALL women.