ANYA ROBERTS-TONEY // If She Floats

On view October 14–November 28, 2021

A deep pool of water can hold multiple truths. It can be a space of pleasure and cleansing, and also one of peril and punishment. If She Floats, Anya Roberts-Toney’s exhibition of new paintings at Nationale, unlocks this dichotomy through gestural imagery of female bathers in otherworldly landscapes.

Two spirit forms, one composed of dark grays and blues and the other light and bright pinks, commune in a round pool. Their profiles come together as a tessellation floating on the surface of the water. The painting, which shares the title of the exhibition, is in reference to a dark history. Float tests were forced on women accused of witchcraft in the late 1600s. If the woman being tested floated in water, she was found guilty of being a witch, and if she sank (often drowning), she was considered innocent. At the time the saying was: “If she floats, she burns.” Roberts-Toney’s new body of work is both an acknowledgement of this sinister period of history, and also a reclamation of female power.

Depictions of female bathers appear often throughout western art history. From classical paintings of nymphs bathing in the woods, to Impressionist artists like Paul Cézanne and Pierre Bonnard who explored this theme in a modern context, the bathers motif has been a consistent and easy-to-consume theme in the history of western painting. Within If She Floats, Roberts-Toney’s figures invite our gaze, our consumption, but through the use of abstraction and a focus on relaxation as a form of resistance, these images eschew historical norms. Roberts-Toney’s images invite us to look—in fact the pleasure of viewing is always part of her work—but the proliferation of unexpected mystical elements make us question and consider where we are and what we are seeing.

The swooping arcs in these paintings act as our portals into a world of magical realism. The arcs are invitations to engage in a visual conversation with landscapes that are charged with magnetic energy. Robert's-Toney doesn't see these paintings as offering definitive messages, but rather multiple opportunities for us to enter and create our own narrative. We see: a lone candle floating in a darkened landscape; lush flora blooming beside pools; a many-breasted figure wearing two faces; butterflies hovering in pink skies; a glowing head consulting a large spider; a fountain flowing with electric blue water; and a figure reclining inside an oversized conch shell. These visual moments are all generous offerings; it’s up to us to indulge in the possibilities of color, form, and meaning.

Anya Roberts-Toney's oil paintings and works on paper explore themes related to femininity and feminine power. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum and has been exhibited locally and nationally at locations including Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Dust to Dust Projects, Nationale, The Portland ‘Pataphysical Society, the Office at Russo Lee, Somos Gallery, and Stephanie Chefas Projects. She is a recipient of the Stumptown Artist Fellowship and an Oregon Arts Commission Career Opportunity Grant, with additional funding from the Ford Family Foundation. Roberts-Toney received her BA in Studio Art from Brown University and her MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art. Originally from Seattle, WA, she lives and works in Portland, OR, where she is represented by Nationale.

PRESS & MORE
VizArts Monthly: Exploratory Work in Fresh Spaces, Lindsay Costello, Oregon ArtsWatch, November 2, 2021
Art Review: Anya Roberts-Toney at Nationale, Jennifer Rabin, Oregon ArtsWatch, November 22, 2021

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