This Mona Lisa (1963) is one of the earliest works for which Andy Warhol employed silk-screening, the printing process that he adopted in 1962 to quickly and easily make multiple copies of preexisting images. Here, he revels in the rat of duplication. By replicating a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting Mona Lisa four times in two different ways, the artist reduces a masterwork epitomizing traditional notions of artistic genius and authorship to a pale shadow of its former self. Warhol’s Mona Lisa was donated to The Met by his friend Henry Geldzahler, the Museum’s founding curator of contemporary art. One year before Geldzahler made his gift, Warhol released he film Henry Geldzahler, which consists solely of ninety-seven minutes of footage of the curator smoking a cigar.Photographed in The Met in NYC.
Hedy Klineman’s Ancestral Spirits, African-American Portraits, is a solo exhibition of more than twenty paintings from two series on view at Smart Clothes Gallery through December 20th, 2013.
Detail from Painting Above
The genesis of the African-American Portraits is framed by two significant events. In the eighties, Andy Warhol presented Klineman with a pair of his glasses, which she would incorporate into one of her “Fashion Portraits,” marking her first use of the silkscreen technique. Donning the eye-wear, she exclaimed that she ‘saw the world Andy sees.’ Years later, she received an African mask on her birthday. Instinctively, she put it on, repeating the gesture in a silkscreened self-portrait. These gifts and their presentation echo a kind of ceremony, and their performance would give Klineman new perspective on her art.
Since then, Klineman has been commissioned to create portraits for some of the most eminent members of the African-American cultural community, including Russell and Danny Simmons, Mary Schmidt Campbell, dance choreographer Bill T. Jones and actor Malik Yoba. Her choice of masks reflects a sensitivity to the cultural significance of these objects and their innate beauty. Ancestry is reawakened through the masquerade of photographic superimposition. The earlier sister series, Ancestral Spirits, is a celebration of indigenous sculpture in the tradition of modern art’s fascination with these objects.
If these paintings are in the mode of Pop icons, Hedy Klineman’s spiritual counter-narrative for the process is entirely her own. Employing an understanding of essence influenced by Eastern philosophy, her silkscreened paintings hold the presence of their subjects within. Coupled with colorful grounds that relate to the artist’s history as an abstract painter,
Ancestral Spirits, African-American Portraits is a celebration of ancestry and community.
Hedy Klineman’s Ancestral Spirits, African-American Portraits will be on Exhibit Through December 20th, 2013 at Smart Clothes Gallery, located 154 Stanton Street (Corner of Suffolk St), New York, NY 10012. Hours are 12:00 Noon To 6:00 PM
Wednesday to Sunday.
Foreground Painting: The Reclamation, Oil on Canvas By Beau Stanton (All Images Courtesy of Bold Hype Gallery)
Local Surrealist painter Beau Stanton has been an up-and-comer on the New York art scene for a few years now, gaining notoriety through his participation in various group shows on the way to achieving his first New York solo exhibit, up now at Bold Hype Gallery in Chelsea. Beau’s latest collection of paintings, presented under the name Archaic Ornaments, combines classical oil painting with his intricate silk-screened patterns “inspired by pre-modern architecture, letterpress printing designs and decayed infrastructure.” The details of the silk screens come into play especially on Stanton’s layered paintings, such as the series of skull images seen in the photo above, and they really need to be seen up close to be fully appreciated.
Visceral Perception, seen above, is my favorite of the many skull images in the show, and I especially liked Stanton’s use of “Flower Power” colors and the painting’s overall vibrancy. One of the cool things about Beau Stanton, besides his visionary artwork, is the fact that he is such a passionate fan of art in general and he’s enthusiastic in his support of the work of other artists. I see him out all the time at Gallery openings and he is always friendly and has an insight to share on what others are doing. Beau Stanton is an artist to watch, for sure. Make a point to see Archaic Ornaments while you can.
Cyclops Polyphemus
Archaic Ornaments By Beau Stanton will be on Exhibit at Bold Hype Gallery, Located at 547 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 through May 5th, 2012. Gallery Hours are Noon – 5:00 PM, Tuesday – Saturday.
