Madeleine Preston

The work in The Tanagras Archive are based on the Louvre’s Tanagras collection. On their unearthing, these Greek ceramics were coveted by France’s bourgeoisie as affordable symbols of wealth and taste. The paintings in Tanagras Archive show bourgeois interiors where either meals or celebrations take place. Figures often appear ghostly, referencing a culture where gourmandising takes precedence over social and political issues. The works in the archive are anxious faded signs of all that is obscured by polite dinner conversation.