Neel, Elizabeth. Spoiled, 2008. Acrylic on paper, 19" x 24". Contemporary American artist Elizabeth Neel (b. 1975) takes forms and paints them not just in an an aggressive abstract style, but uses their inherent qualities to flesh out a style. It is as if the content, or external, is created according to the internal.
There is a lush quality to Spoiled that is evident in the silken thick ribbons of the dark purple and pink paint along with the dainty round dots on the lower half of the painting. From afar it seems like a bouquet of flowers. Hydrangeas, perhaps. The light background contributes to this delicate, feminine feel. Linger for a while, however, and the painting seems to turn itself inside-out with gory blots that resemble the spilled organs of a body cavity, which are impaled by a vomit-coloured greenish yellow line. There is no doubt that Neel's application of paint is violent. Consider the title of the work, and it becomes obvious that something that is pretty on the outside -- female, flowers, pinks -- becomes grotesque from the inside and suddenly the spoiled has, indeed, spoiled.
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