CRISTINA BANBAN: JAQUE MATE

La Corte

2026

Skarstedt is pleased to present Cristina BanBan: Jaque Mate, an exhibition of new paintings at Skarstedt Chelsea.

September 10 – October 31, 2026

Taking its title from the Spanish term for checkmate, the exhibition expands BanBan's exploration of the female form through a consideration of the body as a permeable entity constantly reshaped by its proximity and relationship to others. In chess, every interaction between pieces alters the response and position of the whole. Likewise, with these new paintings every gesture, lean, and point of contact effects change on the entirety of the composition.

For years, the female body has been the constant in BanBan's practice, the vessel through which experience, memory and emotion pass from artist to canvas. In Jaque Mate, its purpose is redefined. It is declarative and victorious. The attention now turns towards what happens in the charged space where one body meets another. "I am interested in thinking of the body as something inherently unstable, continuously reshaped by proximity to others," the artist explains.

Coro de Reinas

2026

These works explore the effect of relationships on a more existential level. The way these bodies come together and drift apart can be tender or tense, reflect desire or reticence, and never arrive completely at resolution. If the women of BanBan's earlier paintings carried the bearing of goddesses, these figures edge toward the monstrous.

Each work in Jaque Mate tests how near two bodies can draw before the line between them gives way, and it is at precisely this point of collapse that figuration and abstraction stop opposing each other and start to work in tandem.