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Email PagePictophilia
October 19, 2007- November 17, 2007
Reception: October 19, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Justin Faunce
Leo Koenig, Inc.
545 W 23rd St"But certainly for the present age; which prefers the sign to the thing signified; the copy to the original, representation to reality; the appearance to the essence...illusion only is sacred; truth profane: Nay, sacredness is held to be enhanced in proportion as the truth decreases and illusion increases, so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness.²
- Ludwig Feuerbach, from the preface to the second edition of "The Essence of Christianity".
Leo Koenig Inc. is delighted to announce a solo exhibition of new work by Justin Faunce entitled ³Pictophilia.² The centerpiece of the exhibition is a painting by the same name, measuring 10 x 18.5 feet, which is the culmination of the artist's exclusive efforts for the past two years.
With this latest exhibition, Faunce explores the nature of our present day experience of reality. Pictophilia is a fetish involving the preference for pornographic images over actual physical contact. A true pictophiliac can only achieve gratification with the aid of pornographic images. Faunce conveys the premise that as a society, we have all become pictophiliacs, preferring the carefully packaged depictions of reality, to the actual experience. The constant bombardment of images and information that have been precisely altered to alleviate them from the burden of their context, consequently relieves the viewer from the burden of responsibility and obfuscates an individuals' prerogative of choice.
Faunce attempts to turn the saccharine imagery of passive, consumerist titillation on its head. In his practice the artist has sifted through an enormous variety of found images, both familiar and obscure. With this considered arrangement, his visual language places familiar confections within a disturbing landscape of surprising malevolence, embedding ideas of duality. Working with an extremely painstaking method of stenciling and layering paint, Faunce imbues within the work an intense focus that concentrates on the smallest of details. His methodology and imagery, though eminently contemporary, seem also to trace a lineage to eastern philosophies and practices. These opposing aspects spur a visual inquiry that is dependant upon the scrutiny of the minutiae constructing it, rendering a passive response impossible.
Justin Faunce received a Diploma from the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. His work has been seen in exhibitions such as Greater New York, PS 1 MOMA, Long Island City, New York, ³Superstars,² Kunsthalle Vienna, Austria, ³Metro Pictures² at The Moore Space in Miami FL, and ³Unlearning² at the ICA, Manitoba, Canada. For further information and visuals, please contact Elizabeth Balogh or Nicole Russo at the gallery.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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