{"id":614536,"date":"2026-09-28T18:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T18:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614536\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T18:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T18:04:10","slug":"a-broomstick-in-a-mans-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614536\/","title":{"rendered":"A Broomstick in a Man’s World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pocket Review<\/a><\/p>\n

In Emily Mae Smith’s surreal paintings, a symbol of women\u2019s work becomes a weapon. <\/p>\n


\n \"Rebecca
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Emily Mae Smith, \u201cPetite Muse at Work\u201d (2026) (photos Rebecca Schiffman\/Hyperallergic unless indicated otherwise)<\/p>\n

Walking into Emily Mae Smith’s show at Petzel Gallery, all I could think was, “I wonder if she is getting enough credit for her anthropomorphic broomsticks now that Wicker<\/a> is coming out.” Though voluptuous brooms abound in her paintings, they are complemented by witch-like bunnies and eyeball-filled grapes (what good company for such seemingly strange subjects). All are connected by the artist\u2019s technical skill and a darkness that haunts each work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is intentional: The title, Transit of Venus, refers to the astronomical alignment when Venus moves between Earth and the Sun, appearing as a tiny dark spot. And what unfolds when the imagined light source sits behind the subject becomes Smith\u2019s commentary on translucency: what might not appear in the spotlight, how long it takes to paint a painting, and what we\u2019re really feeling beneath a strong exterior. Most obviously, this comes through in \u201cVenus (Inner Vision)\u201d (2026), a broomstick figure that stands contrapposto in a hazy wooded landscape. We see her handle (head and torso) as though through an X-ray: her veins and organs on display.<\/p>\n

\"\"Emily Mae Smith, “Straw Woman Problem” (2026)<\/p>\n

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Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pocket Review In Emily Mae Smith’s surreal paintings, a symbol of women\u2019s work becomes a weapon. Emily Mae…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-614536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}