Italian born, Vanessa Beecroft's live events, reminiscent of fashion shows, theater, and film scenes are recorded through photography and video, but her "conceptual approach is actually closer to painting." In her performances and exhibition openings they silently take up their positions, moving very little, standing before the public like living pictures.

"Beecroft is making contemporary versions of the complex figurative compositions that have challenged painters from the Renaissance onwards. She sets up a structure for the participants in her live events to create their own composition, presenting themselves according to their own internalized aesthetic system (PAF)."

She is not involved in the performances as a model, bu...