Ironic paintings by Jansson Stegner: massive beauties against thin guys

Contemporary American artist Jansson Stegner paints funny satirical pictures. In them, he reflects Western society's ideas about gender roles. The women in Stegner's paintings are muscular and athletic, but their perfection is deliberately exaggerated. Sometimes it reaches the point of absurdity. The men, on the contrary, are subtle and look pointedly helpless.

Jansson Stegner ridicules the ideal of the female figure imposed on society by mass culture. His beauties have infinitely long and muscular arms and legs, sunken bellies and high breasts. They are so exaggerated that they are rather unpleasant. They are perfectly matched by painfully thin men, with distorted proportions and lean, expressionless faces.

Apparently, the artist was inspired by classical paintings of the Victorian era. This is especially noticeable in the male portraits. Stegner claims that in his work he tends towards realism, while trying to escape the academic rules imposed on everyone.

He developed a style for himself, in which only he understands canons, and strictly adheres to them. Stegner does not hide the fact that comics had a significant influence on him. Like most American children of the 80s, and the artist was born in 1972, Jansson grew up on comics about superheroes.

Stegner dreamed of becoming an author of visual stories about superhumans and saving humanity, so after school he enrolled in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the Arts. But during his studies, the guy's interests changed. He became an avid fan of Modigliani, Picasso and El Greco. He believes that he continues their work, using an exclusive technique that he calls "strange figuration."

It is also easy to notice that Janssen Stegner loves to paint portraits of volleyball players. This is his little "thing", connected with the fact that the artist himself was a professional volleyball player for 14 years. His volleyball girls retain the most natural proportions and this is a tribute to the game he loved since childhood.

Colombian artist Fernando Botero uses a similar technique in his work. But his men and women, on the contrary, are “bloated”, mocking the modern trend of toned figures.

Jansson Stegner provokes reflections on the stereotypes society imposes on people through his works, and how they influence the perception of beauty and gender roles. Do you think contemporary art should continue to ridicule and expose such stereotypes, or has society already become sufficiently aware of the problem? Perhaps you have examples of other artists who, like Stegner, raise important social issues in their work? Share your thoughts in the comments!