Claudia Kogachi, Heaven must be missing an angel

Claudia Kogachi can’t resist inserting the people in her life into her paintings. This time, it’s her new partner Josephine alongside her, in imagined moments from iconic movies. Together, they’re (two of) Charlie’s Angels; they’re Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in Kill Bill; they’re recreating the sexy pottery scene from Ghost; and they’re together on a horse in Brokeback Mountain. Claudia’s artworks are imaginary negotiations of real life and real feelings, often interrogating the trickier side of relationships. 

Within this series of 10 paintings, Claudia is painting new romantic and plutonic identities, trying them on and slipping them off again, visualising herself and Josephine within the context of these films. It’s not so much about seeing yourself represented on screen, and instead about believing that you could be anyone—even Dominic Toretto. After all, Dominic Toretto, and indeed Vin Diesel, are cartoons, they’re caricatures, so why shouldn’t Claudia paint herself in their place, complete with muscle tank and chains? The paintings enable her to play out a future for her and Josephine in different scenarios, scenarios where you can be your own hero…or antihero, where you can be anyone you want.