The Nun's Litany, 2024

Artspace is pleased to present a bold new limited edition of 40 silkscreen prints by Ana Benaroya, entitled The Nun’s Litany.

Radiant and electric, The Nun’s Litany flips classic portraiture on its head with acidic color and a muscular, confident woman nude. Benaroya builds upon her childhood love of graphic novels and action figures as well as her mastery of illustration to create a new queer universe in her vibrant paintings and prints. Each series of work centers on specific themes, but their subjects are always robust, raucous women in the nude who project brute strength and power.

“Bright vibrating colors really bring me joy. Playing with color brings me joy. When I see a work of art that has the most perfect color harmonies or color dissonance it literally makes my heart skip a beat in excitement.” - Ana Benaroya

The Nun’s Litany pays homage to indie band Magnetic Fields’s song of the same name, animating its imagined central character with personal references to bring her to life. “I think because I am always depicting nude women there's no way to escape the lens of sexuality…Knowing this, I sometimes embrace it and sometimes try to reject it. Being a lesbian I think adds an additional layer to this because not only am I depicting nude women, which has a huge art historical precedent, but I am also depicting aspects of my own desire. I am both trying to free the woman nude from the weight of all this historical (and contemporary) imagery - and also impart my own vision or desire onto it.” - Ana Benaroya

Photography by Garrett Carroll

Ana Benaroya’s (b. 1986, New York, NY) work centers substantial female subjects, whose extravagant musculatures upset more traditional expectations of femininity. Through her paintings and works on paper, Benaroya constructs a female gaze that recasts women in dominant roles, with an assertive, idiosyncratic presence. The muscles on Benaroya’s figures both distort and ornament her subject’s bodies, and speak to female desire and a queer sensibility. Striking, offbeat colors dominate the compositions, and the artist’s intense, slightly macabre palette balances their figurative vigor and allure.

In her practice, Benaroya pulls from diverse sources to assemble a unique pictorial language. She cites gallery artist Peter Saul as a major inspiration, and her work often makes reference to graphic styles familiar from superhero comics. Her current exhibition at the gallery centers on images of women in relation to water, and through references to sources both art historical and contemporary, Benaroya explores the dynamics of queer desire, in which bodies are on display for themselves and on their own terms. In compositions animated by complex networks of attraction, Benaroya makes visible forms of lesbian desire that are typically rendered latent or invisible.

All our frames are manufactured in the USA, using eco-friendly and sustainably sourced engineered hardwood for durability and a uniform finish that is free of defects. Frames are available in Black or White Satin and Honey Pecan.

All prints are hinged to a conservation quality, acid-free and lignin-free Alpha Cellulose matboard, using an acid-free linen tape. The mat's surface paper is fade and bleed resistant and is attached to a conservation quality foam-core mounting board that will keep the work safe from deterioration over time. Artworks with a deckled or decorative edges will be floated on the matboard, with acrylic spacers to separate the art from the glazing. All mounting is fully reversible, without any potential damage to the art.

All of our frames come with picture quality .090 mm plexiglass, which blocks 66% of UV to prevent color fading from exposure to light, keeping your art protected for years to come. It is now considered the industry standard for artists, museums and galleries throughout the world.

For images up to 30" x 40"

• 1 1/4” wide, 3/4” deep, with a 2 1/2” wide mat.
• We generally leave 1/4” - 1/2” of paper showing around the image, to accommodate signatures and for visual appeal.

For sheet sizes larger than 30” x 40" please contact an Artspace advisor for a custom quote.

Our art editions ship in 7 to 10 business days from New York.

Our framed art editions ship in 11 to 14 business days from New York.

This work is eligible for return within 30 days of receipt of delivery.

Questions about this work?

Interested in other works by this artist or other artists? We will source them for you.

Contact an Artspace Advisor at advisor@artspace.com