By Melanie (smartshanghai.com)
Updated: 2008-03-20 13:49

Velasquez's Las Meninas(1656)

Dorothy has also created individual 131 x 84 cm and 87 x 56 cm portraits of each of the thirteen women. Her portrait of "Infanta Margarita," one of the last members of the Royal Hapsburg family, pays homage to Diego Velazquez' celebrated, highly self-conscious 1656 oil painting, "Las Meninas." Velasquez broke ground with "Las Meninas" by depicting figures that seemed to be aware of the viewer, inserting an image of himself at the easel and using visible brush strokes to highlight the created, illusory quality of the phenomenon of painting.

Dorothy M's "Infanta Margarita"(2007)

Dorothy M's "Infanta Margarita" is an adult, but wears a lace embroidered gown almost identical to Velazquez' 5 year-old subject. Like Velazquez' Infanta, Dorothy M's version is unsmiling, and well aware of her audience, bestowing upon us an arching, sideways glance.

Andrew James moved his gallery from London to Shanghai just over a year ago. Initially, he planned to focus solely on Chinese contemporary art, however, this year James is branching out into other Asian markets. "Works from Korea and Japan are overall higher quality, lower prices and more original than their Chinese counterparts," he says. If Dorothy M's show is any indicator, James is right to look to Korea. "13 of Blondes" earned itself a two-page spread in Shanghai Daily and the opening reception brought more than 100 people into the gallery.

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