The Painter of Modern Life
dal 4/3/2015 al 10/4/2015
Segnalato da
Nathaniel Axel
Lisa Beck
Sadie Benning
Sascha Braunig
Alex Brown
Mathew Cerletty
Wayne Gonzales
Joanne Greenbaum
DanielHesidence
Mamie Holst
Cannon Hudson
Chip Hughes
Xylor Jane
Robert Janitz
Erik Lindman
Nikholis Planck
David Ratcliff
Nicolas Roggy
Ivan Seal
Richard Tinkler
Stanley Whitney
Bob Nickas
4/3/2015
The Painter of Modern Life
Anton Kern Gallery, New York
Works by 21 artists, with the 19th century designation of the poet-critic Charles Baudelaire. The artists are represented by paintings, drawings, collages, prints, and hand-painted sculpture.
Curated by: Bob Nickas
The Painter of Modern Life" brings together works by 21 artists, with the
19th century designation of the poet-critic Charles Baudelaire as its
mantle
The artists are represented by paintings, drawings, collages, prints, and hand-painted sculpture.
The exhibition may be thought to ask, what is modern life? Or rather, what has it become? In what ways do we
translate and make sense of the world around us, our sense of place and displacement in the everyday? Manet
was a painter of modern life in Baudelaire's time. On Kawara was a painter of modern life in ours. How do we
navigate this not inconsiderable distance?
What is commonly referred to as today's art world is a far larger canvas, and even if one were to possess a crystal
ball, our supposed clairvoyance would be a continuous squint of the eye, and in what would be closer to an ever-
shaken snow globe.
Modern life is in no way opaque. It can be observed and seen through. And while our notion of beauty may
change and distort, we remain dedicated to its pursuit. After all, don't we want to take pleasure in the visual
landscape—even that which appears beyond aesthetic concerns or worthy of a higher level of poetics? But what
of the drab canvas we accept as life today? Although detours are of the utmost necessity, they comprise our path
without leading directly to our destination. And what is the modern life of painting?
As with spirit photography in the 19th century, one could say that the medium of painting is in fact a medium, the
very means to communicate with the past, wholly within and expanding the contours of the present, pointing
perhaps to a future it never intended to predict.
One is guided, as always, by the works that reflect the moment in which they have been made, as they register in
their own voice, and at their own volume. The artists actively participate in and amplify the larger world of the
imagination. A statement, if there is one, is made by the works themselves. All you can do is bring them together.
But these days, an assembly does not in any way constitute a movement, since movements belong to the past,
and surely for the best. History will not be rushed along. All contemporary art, then, with no reliable guarantors for
posterity, is in a sense pre-historic. Let the works, one at a time, convince you that this visual realm remains a
compelling place to explore, and that picture-making can't help but define our time. After all, the artists are both
observers of and re-makers of reality.
Image: Wayne Gonzales
Press Contact: jasmin@antonkerngallery.com
Opening: Thursday, March 5, 6:00 – 8:00pm
Anton Kern Gallery
532 West 20th Street
Tue - Sat 10am to 6pm