An accessible yet insightful introduction to Dumas’ existential portraiture, featuring previously unpublished pieces.

Open-End is a captivating collection featuring over 100 works by South African artist Marlene Dumas (born 1954), spanning from 1984 to the present. This carefully curated selection offers an insightful overview of her artistic journey and introduces recent works. Dumas characterizes her practice as blending second-hand imagery with direct emotional experience. Early in her career, she gained recognition for collages and texts, but she now primarily creates with oil on canvas and ink on paper. Her body of work largely consists of portraits depicting intense emotional states such as suffering, ecstasy, fear, and despair. A defining moment in her stylistic evolution was her use of images sourced from newspapers, magazines, film stills, and Polaroids. Drawing from international museum and private collections, Open-End provides fresh perspectives on Dumas’ creative process and techniques.