Erica Eyres will present a new series of paintings based on images found in her collection of outdated textbooks for stage and film make-up. In the paintings, figures are caught mid-transformation, never revealing their final characters.

Removed from their original context, the portraits become enlarged to confront the viewer with their deadpan, direct gaze. These works are shown alongside paintings based on photographs that Eyres purchases online, found under the search term “girl next door”. In these paintings, women pose awkwardly in domestic settings, appearing to be captured on film before attending a formal event such as a high school prom. The notion of “inside” jokes is made ambiguous, as it refers to something shared privately between friends, but also alludes to the interior spaces in which the figures are situated. The works portray awkward, private performances that take place within the home in front of a camera.