Side Room is pleased to present its next exhibition, Atticus Bergman: Female Anatomy, which will be on view from February 17 to March 21, 2022. Female Anatomy collects 10 works made between 2017 and 2018, featuring a selection of women and charismatic female mammals. The works are thematically united by Bergman’s interest in the relationship between the intangible nature of personal magnetism and the concrete, technical language of raw anatomy. Each work in the show is made solely with Crayola Crayons and prominently foregrounds the materiality of wax, a medium which Bergman meticulously applies in successive layers. Wax is a substance with both practical and symbolic resonance for Bergman, given its long association with practices of physical preservation, rituals of remembrance, and negotiations with the afterlife.

Several works in Female Anatomy bear the face of Pola Negri, one of the most idolized and controversial celebrities of the silent film era. In two drawings, her features are magnified, abstracted, and positioned next to renderings of Fiona the hippo who, at the time these drawings were made, was not only the stylish young belle of the Cincinnati Zoo, but also a global internet sensation. Behind Fiona lies a beige background, lightly textured with illustrations of hippopotamus bone structure that were directly transposed from an 18th century German textbook of animal anatomy. Other women in this exhibition include Wallis Simpson, Jean Acker, and Julia Child—the iconic television chef, who is shown cradling the body of a pigeon. Wallis Simpson is also depicted in the company of pigeons, whose historical trajectory from fashionable pets of the aristocracy to mangy vermin resonates enigmatically with Simpson’s notorious role in the abdication of King Edward VIII.

In Triptych of the Injured Foot, Bergman brings the overarching theme of Female Anatomy to a literal conclusion, presenting a melodrama of an actual episode of anatomical crisis. The narrative aspect of this work employs a pictorial language echoing the tradition of biblical altarpieces and incorporates several motifs loosely inspired by hagiographic depictions of the life of Saint Anthony of Padua.

Atticus Bergman (b. 1989) most recently exhibited work at Kai Matsumiya in New York in the fall of 2021. In 2017, his first solo exhibition took place at the James Fuentes Gallery. In a list of her ten favorite things for Artforum magazine, Ottessa Moshfegh listed Atticus Bergman’s Crayola crayon drawings alongside the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, the films of Ingmar Bergman, and the recorded songs of Billie Holiday.

Atticus Bergman: Female Anatomy is on view by appointment at 544 Pacific Street, #3, Brooklyn, NY. A selection of newer, larger works will also be on site for viewing. More information on these is available by request. Side Room is a pop-up art space and curatorial project by Gilles Heno-Coe. For further information or to make an appointment, please contact Gilles at gilles@sideroomgallery.com.