Friday, March 4, 2011

A Debt to Pleasure, until April 2, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, Beverly, Massachusetts

“A Debt to Pleasure,” curated by Gallery Director Leonie Bradbury is currently on at the Montserrat College of Art Gallery in
Beverly, Massachusetts.

I'm certain this exhibition will be of great interest to many here, as allegory and realism, something not often seen, yet discussed regularly in such places as art forums. In this exhibition allegorical realism is employed to investigate symbolism in painting (past and present), cultural history and the art world’s insistence on originality and obsession with everything new.


Erik Thor Sandberg, Alterations, oil on panel, 2010. Courtesy of Conner Contemporary, Washington D.C.


Inspired by the visual and symbolic richness of the painting practices of the distant past, the artists in A Debt to Pleasure integrate the sensual and the sinister to question ‘meaning making’ in contemporary art. Featuring Julie Heffernan, David Ording, Shelley Reed, Erik Thor Sandberg, and Anne Siems.

Beyond their flawlessly rendered surfaces, the paintings in A Debt to Pleasure integrate the sensual and the sinister, the vulgar and the mysterious. Each artist explicitly references stylistic techniques and aesthetics of the past to create a provocative body of work that explores meaning making in painting.

An exhibition of technical skill, visual indulgence, and timelessness, “A Debt to Pleasure” presents a series of works that question their place in history. Beyond their flawlessly rendered surfaces, each artist explicitly references stylistic techniques and aesthetics of the past to create a provocative body of work.

Shelley Reed, By the Pool (after d’Hondecoeter), Oil on canvas, 2009. Courtesy of the artist


David Ording, After, oil on canvas, 2005-7. Courtesy of Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston


Julie Heffernan, Self Portrait as Tender Mercenary, 2006, Oil on canvas, 231 x 173 cm / 91 x 68 1/8 in Courtesy of Dodge Gallery, NY


Anne Siems, Snail Girls, mixed media on panel, 2010, Courtesy of Walker Contemporary, Boston

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