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Email PageRobert Colescott: A Survey of Paintings
October 12, 2006- November 11, 2006
Reception: October 12, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Robert Colescott
Kravets/Wehby Gallery
521 W 21st StThe Kravets/Wehby Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Robert Colescott. The show, entitled A Survey of Paintings will open on Thursday, October 12 with a reception for the artist from 6-8 pm and will run through November 11, 2006.
The artists of today owe a great deal to Robert Colescott. His career has the unique attribute of consistent relevance. Colescott embarked upon figurative expressionism during a time when the status quo was nonrepresentational work. He has made an impressive career out of stirring the pot through his employment of race, money and sexuality in his paintings. The outcome is often humorous, but Colescott’s subjects are not a laughing matter.
Colescott made a name for himself in the early 1970s lampooning history and Old Master paintings by inserting stereotypical African-American figures into classical images. In I Gets a Thrill Too When I Sees de Koo (1978), he makes a space for black people in the annals of modern art history by replacing the head of de Kooning’s seminal Woman with that of Aunt Jemima. Colescott also interjects his own image into these works, weaving a complex narrative in which his racially stigmatized body links to specific historic occurrences and artworks.
More recently, Colescott has taken up the use of shockingly vibrant colors and more fluid, stream-of-consciousness imagery than his earlier paintings. In Summer Time (1995), Disney-esque cartoons collide with an interracial couple in a sexually-charged, manically-colored environment. In 1997, Colescott became the first African-American artist to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale. This achievement reflects the continuing importance of his work within the contemporary art discourse.
Art Reviews of Robert Colescott: A Survey of Paintings
| New York Times October 27, 2006 | Holland Cotter | "No one wants to hear this anymore, but the New York art industry is a white man’s franchise, plain and simple. So it’s good to have Robert Colescott, who has never had a problem saying what people don’t want to hear, back in town for his first New York solo show since 2000, and his first in Chelsea...." |
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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