Por-traits / At Fifth Avenue location: Marc Quinn
On 5 May 2007 the Mary Boone Gallery will open at its Chelsea location “Por-traits”, an exhibition of paintings by FRANCESCO CLEMENTE.
The sixteen portraits that comprise the exhibition were all painted in the
Artist’s New York studio between 1999 and the present. The subjects include
individuals prominent in the New York art world, such as Helen Marden, Shel-
ley Aarons, and Lisa Dennison (who organized Clemente’s 1999 Guggenheim
Museum retrospective). Their reclining bodies seemingly float across the
exaggerated horizontal surface of the canvas as they proffer the viewer a dis-
tinctive gesture and an enigmatic gaze.
For portraits of art-collector couples, Clemente uses a large oval format.
Works like “Kent Logan and Vicki Logan”, “Ray Learsy and Melva Bucksbaum”,
and “Andy Hall and Christine Hall” conflate the mystery of one soul with the
mystery of human relationships.
The exhibition, at 541 West 24 Street, will continue through 30 June 2007.
A fully illustrated catalogue with essay by Brooks Adams will be available at
the Gallery.
Francesco Clemente
Born in Naples, Italy, 1952.
Lives in New York City, Rome, Italy, and Madras, India.
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Marc Quinn
Sphinx
On 3 May 2007 Mary Boone Gallery will open at its Fifth Avenue location
“Sphinx”, an exhibition of new sculpture and related watercolors by MARC QUINN.
This exhibition will mark the first time the complete series of “Sphinx” sculp-
tures have been shown. Each work in the series depicts the well-known fash-
ion model Kate Moss in a different advanced Yoga position. Although highly
realistic, the white-painted bronze sculptures are not portraits, but rather
represent, in the Artist’s words, “an image, and the way that image is twisted
and sculpted by our collective desire”.
Freedom from worldly desire informs the drastically different look of the final
work in the series, “Sphinx (Road to Enlightenment)”. Here, a brilliant bronze
surface is used. The model’s iconic face appears on an emaciated body in the
lotus position; a flowing robe echoes the undulation of her pronounced ribs.
Quinn provokes us to reconcile the ascetic condition of this figure with the
world of celebrity and glamour that his famously recognizable subject evokes.
Marc Quinn
Born and lives in London, England, 1964.
The exhibition, at 745 Fifth Avenue, will run through 30 June 2007.
Please contact the Gallery if we can be of further assistance, or visit our web-
site.
Image: Francesco Clemente, Portrait of Ray Learsy and Melva Bucksbaum, 67" by 92" oil/canvas, 2004-2005
Mary Boone Gallery
745 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10151