The Sleeping beauties is the natural continuation of the previous exhibition showcased in our Gallery (The favour of the fair, 2016). In the former exhibition we could observe a series of feminine figures with seemingly passive attitudes (she calls these works portraits/still lifes) accompanied by classic elements of painting, which charge her models with all the symbolic significance of centuries of History of art.

With The sleeping beauties, she appears to have liberated herself of all these symbolic elements that she used (hair extensions, classical sculptures, flower vases, and references to still life) in order to further her work into a presence where the feminine needs only the model to manifest itself. It is no accident that she focuses on this role, that of the model, as for centuries it was the only permitted role for women within the study of painting. With her work over the past years, Agrela tries to retrieve some aspects of the representation of women and of the role of women throughout the history of art in order to complete a subversive work from the inside, using techniques and classical genres, in a subtle and ironic way.

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