Painting "Princess nr. 2"

• From series "16 Round Princesses"
• Oil painting on canvas, 2021
• D: 30cm
• Original artwork by Katrin Valgemäe
• Katrin Valgemäe’s, who is spicing up classical painting techniques with pop art, kitsch and camp, “16 ROUND PRINCESSES” is an illusion of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale “Princess Pea”, with which generations of women have grown up. The fairytale about a promised prince on a white horse and a “whipped cream cake” bridal gown slips into an astonishing potpourri of ironically gazing women who don’t seem to know what to do with the upside down fairytale (ie reality). One might think that a new generation of self-conscious 21st-century “girls” imbued with feminism have put a short end to this fairytale, but the screen-sneer of the selfie era proves the exact opposite. Is the hypnotised self-perspective of contemporary exaggerated self-centeredness a zombie like metamorphosis of a broken promise?

This artwork is part of my personal exhibition “16 ROUND PRINCESSES” at Staapli Gallery, Tallinn, in October 2021. You can check more about the exhibition here. You can also read more about the series and its themes in the blog post "16 ROUND PRINCESSES" for a deeper exploration of the concepts behind the work.