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Email PageThe Virgin of the Mall
November 30, 2006- January 6, 2007
Rob Zeller
511 Gallery
529 W 20th St Rob Zeller Tempest (2006) |
Zeller's painting technique is rooted in his classical training. In The Virgin of the Mall Series, the artist synthesizes nineteenth-century modeling of the female nude figure with sixteenth-century perspective. Zeller leaves portions of the canvas and perspective grid uncovered beneath the paint layer referencing both old master works of the Renaissance and exposing the artifices of painting.
In each composition, Zeller centers a single nude in a desolate parking lot of a suburban shopping center. Although the figures are reminiscent of nudes from nineteenth century neo-classicism and the Renaissance works of artists like Botticelli, Zeller culturally updates the women by painting them with their contemporary accessories such as an iPod or tattoo. Positioned in front of backdrops of Home Depot and Old Navy store fronts, the nudes then become centerpieces of American commerce. By incorporating this fusion of the classical/contemporary nude into the commercial suburban landscape, Zeller's complex works criticize consumerism and suburban sprawl as dismal and dehumanizing aspects of American life.
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