• From left: Nicolas Party, Pink Portrait, 2018, Pastel on paper, 31,4 x 23,6 in, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #83, 1990, Gelatin silver print, 49 x 39 x 4 in framed, Duane Hanson, Portrait of Kim, 1994, Mixed media, Life scale, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, (Nitrogen Oxygen), 1980-1985, Acrylic and printed-paper collage on canvas, 29 x 25 in.

  • From left: Barry X Ball, Purity, 2008–2017, Sculpture: ultra-translucent white Mexican onyx, stainless steel, Sculpture: 24 x 16-1/2 x 11-1/4 in, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1982, coloured crayon and charcoal on board, 30 x 20 in. Right: Andy Warhol, One Red Marilyn (Reversal), 1979–1986, Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 20 x 16 in.

  • From left: Barry X Ball, Purity, 2008–2017, Sculpture: ultra-translucent white Mexican onyx, stainless steel, Sculpture: 24 x 16-1/2 x 11-1/4 in, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1982, coloured crayon and charcoal on board, 30 x 20 in.

  • From left: Georg Baselitz, Sechs Schone, Vier Hässliche Porträts: Hässliches Porträt 1, 1987, Oil on panel, 35,2 x 27,8 in, Nicolas Party, Pink Portrait, 2018, Pastel on paper, 31,4 x 23,6 in.

  • From left: Duane Hanson, Portrait of Kim, 1994, Mixed media, Life scale, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lisa Lyon and Robert Mapplethorpe, 1982, Silver Gelatin Print, 20 x 16 in, Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 2016–2018, Dye sublimation metal print, 85 x 85 in, Billy Sullivan, Rachel, 2010, Oil on linen, 30 x 20 in.

  • From left: Duane Hanson, Portrait of Kim, 1994, Mixed media, Life scale, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lisa Lyon and Robert Mapplethorpe, 1982, Silver Gelatin Print, 20 x 16 in, Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 2016–2018, Dye sublimation metal print, 85 x 85 in, Billy Sullivan, Rachel, 2010, Oil on linen, 30 x 20 in, Laurie Simmons, The Love Doll/Day 29 (Nude with Dog), 2011, Fuji matte print, 70 x 47 in, Kendell Geers, Twilight of the Idols 1720, 2016, Danger tape on lost object, 18,9 x 4,3 x 4,3 in.

  • From left: Billy Sullivan, Rachel, 2010, Oil on linen, 30 x 20 in, Laurie Simmons, The Love Doll/Day 29 (Nude with Dog), 2011, Fuji matte print, 70 x 47 in, Kendell Geers, Twilight of the Idols 1720, 2016, Danger tape on lost object ,18,9 x 4,3 x 4,3 in.

  • From left: Laurie Simmons, The Love Doll/Day 29 (Nude with Dog), 2011, Kendell Geers, Twilight of the Idols 1720, 2016, Georg Baselitz, Sechs Schone, Vier Hässliche Porträts: Hässliches Porträt 1, 1987, Nicolas Party, Pink Portrait, 2018, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #83, 1990, Duane Hanson, Portrait of Kim, 1994, Mixed media, Life scale.

  • FIGURES AND FACES

  • Andy Warhol, One Red Marilyn (Reversal), 1979 – 1986, Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 20 x 16 in (50,8 x 40,5 cm)

  • Barry X Ball Purity 2008 – 2017 Sculpture: ultra-translucent white Mexican onyx, stainless steel Pedestal: Greek “Sivec” marble, stainless steel, wood, acrylic lacquer, steel, nylon, plastic Sculpture: 24 x 16-1/2 x 11-1/4 in (61 x 41.9 x 28.6 cm) Pedestal: 45 x 14 x 12 in (114.3 x 35.6 x 30.5 cm)

  • Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1982, Coloured crayon and charcoal on board, 30 x 20 in (76,2 x 50,8 cm)

  • Georg Baselitz, Sechs Schone, Vier Hässliche Porträts: Hässliches Porträt 1, 1987, Oil on panel, 35,2 x 27,8 in (89,5 x 70,5 cm)

  • Nicolas Party Pink Portrait 2018 Pastel on paper 31,4 x 23,6 in (80 x 60 cm)

  • Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still #83 1990 Gelatin silver print 49 x 39 x 4 in framed (124,5 x 99,1 x 10,2 cm framed)

  • Duane Hanson Kim 1994 Mixed media Life scale

  • Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled (Nitrogen Oxygen) 1980-1985 Acrylic and printed-paper collage on canvas 29 x 25 in (73,66 x 63,5 cm)

  • Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 2016 – 2018, Dye sublimation metal print, 85 x 85 in (215,9 x 215,9 cm)

  • Robert Mapplethorpe Lisa Lyon and Robert Mapplethorpe 1982 Silver Gelatin Print 20 x 16 in (50,8 x 40,6 cm)

  • Billy Sullivan, Rachel, 2010, Oil on linen, 30 x 20 in (76,20 x 50,80 cm)

  • Laurie Simmons, The Love Doll / Day 29 (Nude with Dog), 2011, Fuji matte print, 70 x 47 in (177,8 x 119,4 cm)

  • Kendell Geers Twilight of the Idols 1720 2016 Chevron tape on lost object 18,9 x 4,3 x 4,3 in (48 x 11 x 11 cm)

Figures and Faces

CURATED BY PAUL FRANK MCCABE

A McCabe Pop Up Exhibition in New Yor

March 4th–27th, 2020
Preview: March 3rd, 2020, 6-8PM

522 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011

Artists: Barry X Ball, Georg Baselitz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Duane Hanson, Kendell Geers, Robert Mapplethorpe, Nicolas Party, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, Billy Sullivan and Andy Warhol

Please see here a list of the works featured in the exhibition, including details and prices.

The paintings, photographs, collages, drawings, prints and sculptures brought together in “Figures and Faces” are alternately beatific, grotesque, primitive, refined, famous and ordinary. Representing a cross-section of contemporary figurative art, this exhibition features roughly a dozen works by a multinational and multigenerational group of artists ranging from twentieth century masters such as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat to rising art stars like Nicolas Party. With a scope as wide ranging as the human subjects it showcases, this exhibition highlights a common compulsion to represent the physical and psychological wonders of humanity.

Populating the gallery with an intriguing cast of characters, “Figures and Faces” sets the stage for debates about style, content, context and critique in figurative art. Considered individually, works like Warhol’s high-contrast silkscreen of film legend Marilyn Monroe (One Red Marilyn (Reversal), 1979-1986), Duane Hanson’s life-size hyper-realistic sculpture of an average woman (Kim, 1994), Kendell Geers’s found wooden sculpture mummy-wrapped in tape (Twilight of the Idols 1720, 2016), Laurie Simmons’s photograph of a life-size custom-ordered “love doll” (The Love Doll / Day 29 (Nude with Dog), 2011) and Barry X Ball’s veiled bust carved from translucent white onyx (Purity, 2008-2017) are aesthetically incongruous. Shown together, however, these contrasting artworks become fodder for a holistic discussion about idolatry. The juxtaposition of these works raises important questions about beauty ideals, religious worship, cultural appropriation, mass media, sexuality, and modesty in contemporary portraiture.

Elsewhere in the exhibition, stylistically clashing paintings and drawings evoke a wide array of expressions (and are sure to elicit equally diverse emotional responses.) The blue-eyed woman in Party’s pastel (Pink Portrait, 2008) appears saintly and ethereal, while Georg Baselitz’s signature upside-down figure (Sechs Schone, Vier Hässliche Porträts: Hässliches Porträt 1, 1987) is rage and fear incarnate complete with a gaping mouth and blood-red eyes. Alternatively, Billy Sullivan’s Rachel, 2010, represents a private moment from the artist’s personal life. The reclined model in this painted snapshot manages to feel both familiar and mysterious.

Diversity within the important subgenre of self-portraiture is briefly explored with photographs by Cindy Sherman and Robert Mapplethorpe shown in the company of mixed media works by Basquiat. Whereas Sherman masterfully assumes otherness (and thus thwarts the conventions of self-portraiture) in Untitled Film Still #83, 1990, and Untitled, 2016-2018, Mapplethorpe greats the viewer alongside one of his favorite models looking as confident and cool as a rock-star (Lisa Lyon and Robert Mapplethorpe, 1982.) Basquiat’s work, meanwhile, represents a self-conscious introspective view. His intuitive naive-style drawings and collages (Untitled, 1982, and Untitled (Nitrogen Oxygen), 1980–85) visualize the artist’s own tormented psyche.

Presenting but a small sample of recent representations of humanity, “Figures and Faces” underscores the relevance—urgency even—of portraiture in the twenty-first century. Collectively, the works presented here are meant to create a foil to the daily barrage of news-media images and social network feeds that endanger our sense of individuality and reduce the rich and diverse human condition to pixels and mimes.

About McCabe Fine Art

McCabe Fine Art provides first-class consultative services to clients wishing to build comprehensive and quality collections focused on modern and contemporary art.

For more information, please contact info@mccabefineart.com.