I went to the pre -pre-gallery talk at CIA yesterday (actually it was called a "brown bag lunch") so I know a little about what this painting is about. Let me preface, only Dana Schutz can really explain her work, live in-person is best I'm sure, maybe video would work, but the printed word  in the form of gallery labels or anything else would never do Dana or her paintings justice. So I encourage you to go to her pre-gallery talk at 6 pm at MOCA.

Dana Schutz says "what if" a lot. She has not lost that youthful mindset to question things. She still has that creativity that usually dies when you enter kindergarten and hear no, can not, impossible, does not, not real etc. over and over.

That is why when Dana Schutz describes this world of figures that she imagines, that can eat themselves and regenerate parts and re-assemble themselves it does not seem horrible, gross and disgusting. The figure in this painting Twin Parts is choosing new body parts for herself from the shelf to replace the ones she has eaten. The colors she uses -- cotton candy pink, sunny yellow, baby blue -- they are so cheerful, and Schutz's voice, it is soft and sweet and makes what would be morbid science fiction seem merry.

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