Photo By Gail
Salvador Dali’s penchant for optical illusion and veiled iconography are evident in this painting, Madonna (1958). As seen from a distance, Raphael’s’ Sistine Madonna (after 1513; Gemaldegalerie Dresden) is situated within a gargantuan ear — a reference to the Passion of Christ. From close range, it is an abstract work composed of countless particle-like gray and pink dots, reflecting the artist’s interest in nuclear physics.
Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC
Photos By Gail
In Weeping Warrior (2022), Patrick Martinez interweaves influences from Mexico and Los Angeles to celebrate the Latinx community and the city’s ever-changing nature. According to Martinez, the mirrored tiles are inspired by the downtown bar La Cita, while the neon evokes the patterns and signs of LA storefront and restaurants.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Patrick Martinez, Weeping Warrior
Photo By Gail
In Two Candles (1982), Gerhard Richter plays with the ambiguities of the painted image. Two lit candles seem to stand beside each other, framed by the dark shadow and white backdrop of their surroundings. Or perhaps only a single candle is shown, reflected back to itself in a mirror.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Gerhard Richter, Two Candles
Photo By Gail
Canoe Lake (1997–98) is based on a still photograph that artist Peter Doig took from the 1980 horror film Friday the 13th, and he has made several paintings referencing this film. Always using photographic images as a compositional starting point, Doig’s paintings often have a strong sense of atmosphere or hidden presence. There is a tension between the potential for sublime beauty and the horror of death, decay and obliteration.
Photographed in the Tate Modern in London
All Photos By Gail
Babel (2000), a tower of radios playing at once, addresses ideas of information overload and failed communication. Artist Cildo Meireles refers to Babel as “a tower of comprehension.” Comprising hundreds of radios, each tuned to a different station, the sculpture relates to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, a tower tall enough to reach the heavens.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Cildo Meireles, Tower of Babel