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27/2/2002

Tony Scherman

Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York

new works

This exhibition presents encaustic paintings of Scherman's ongoing series of portraits "The Blue Highway". There are two propositions at work here, the first is Scherman's assertion that the statement "the photograph steals the soul", attributed to primitive cultures, is in fact a truth that has been mythologized by our culture. The second proposition is the observation that photography is a simulacrum; painting is a code. By re-coding the image from the simulacrum back through the act of painting, the artist is attempting to build a bridge for the soul to come back to its lawful place. The paintings are a metaphysical project, literally. Blue is the colour ascribed to metaphysics.

The subjects have all suffered for the theft of their soul. Among these over-exposed individuals are Grace Kelly, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Miles Davis, a porno star..., whose portraits are in some cases full heads, in others cropped close-ups. By painting a magnified, fragmented visage, Scherman de-contextualizes the face of the icon from all that is recognizable or known about the individual. In essence, Scherman creates the "anti-celebrity portrait".

Scherman was born in Toronto, Canada, and was educated in England, where he attended the Royal College of Art in London. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Canada, and Europe since the late 1970s. His art has been published and written about extensively by critics and art historians.

Please join us for the opening with the artist on Wednesday, February 27, 2002, from 6 to 8 pm. For further information, please call (212) 327-2526.

Image: Tony Scherman, "Porn Star", 2001, Encaustic on Canvas

WINSTON WACHTER MAYER
39 East 78th Street New York, New York 10021 t: 212.327.2526 f: 212.327.2529

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