Frieda Toranzo Jaeger (b. 1988, Mexico City) creates strange, seductive paintings about cars and the female body that collapse traditional depictions of hyper-sexualized femininity—often employed to market the masculine appeal of a vehicle—and reclaims the latent power of the car as a site for unrestrained female sexuality. For the BMA, Toranzo Jaeger will transform the central rotunda of the museum’s European art galleries into a kind of fuselage by fabricating a car/spaceship hybrid. This contained structure, formed by hinged and folded canvases, will embody the inner character of a psychological space. Inspired by the more abstract paintings of Chicago Imagist painter Christina Ramberg, this new multi-panel work will combine oil paint with an embroidery style particular to her indigenous community. The artist’s family members will be employed to craft the embroidered canvas, which she will paint, stretch, and configure into the hybrid structure presented in the round as a free-standing artwork.

This exhibition is curated by Leila Grothe, BMA Associate Curator of Contemporary Art