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WES HEMPEL: OPTIMISM
January 21 - February 25, 2017 Artist Reception: Saturday, January 21, 5 - 8pm |
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
George Billis Gallery is pleased to present the gallery's third solo exhibition of work by Wes Hempel. The exhibition features the artist's recent oil paintings and continues through February 25th.
Wes Hempel re-envisions the depiction of masculinity through the juxtaposition of contemporary and historical art. By setting psychologically acute portraits of modern-day men against backdrops appropriated from such disparate sources as neoclassical history painting and Dutch golden age landscapes, the artist’s works forge provocative dialogues between past and present.
The current body of work continues this longstanding practice of combining art historical elements with contemporary figures in order to question the homogeneity of classical art. The paintings are linked to the past both in their subject matter and their surface qualities, often quoting specific art historical references. However, the figures reveal that these are indeed contemporary work. Hempel creates this juxtaposition of elements in order to investigate what art history might have looked like had homosexuality not been vilified.
Hempel writes of his work, “a walk through any major museum will reveal paintings that depict or legitimate only certain kinds of experience. Despite the good intentions of critical theorists questioning the validity of the canon, paintings of the old masters on the walls of museums like the Met, the Louvre, Rijksmuseum still have a certain cache. They're revered not just for their technique but because they enshrine our collective past experience. Of course, it's a selected past that gets validated. Conspicuously absent to me as a gay man is my own story. By presenting contemporary males as objects of desire in familiar looking art historical settings, I'm able to imagine (and allow viewers to imagine) a past that includes rather than excludes gay experience-and ride the coattails, as it were, of art history's imprimatur.”
Hempel’s paintings and works on paper have appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is included in private and corporate collections, including the Denver Art Museum, the Columbus Museum, the Arnot Art Museum, Microsoft Corp., the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and the New Britain Museum of American Art.
Back to Artist Page
Wes Hempel re-envisions the depiction of masculinity through the juxtaposition of contemporary and historical art. By setting psychologically acute portraits of modern-day men against backdrops appropriated from such disparate sources as neoclassical history painting and Dutch golden age landscapes, the artist’s works forge provocative dialogues between past and present.
The current body of work continues this longstanding practice of combining art historical elements with contemporary figures in order to question the homogeneity of classical art. The paintings are linked to the past both in their subject matter and their surface qualities, often quoting specific art historical references. However, the figures reveal that these are indeed contemporary work. Hempel creates this juxtaposition of elements in order to investigate what art history might have looked like had homosexuality not been vilified.
Hempel writes of his work, “a walk through any major museum will reveal paintings that depict or legitimate only certain kinds of experience. Despite the good intentions of critical theorists questioning the validity of the canon, paintings of the old masters on the walls of museums like the Met, the Louvre, Rijksmuseum still have a certain cache. They're revered not just for their technique but because they enshrine our collective past experience. Of course, it's a selected past that gets validated. Conspicuously absent to me as a gay man is my own story. By presenting contemporary males as objects of desire in familiar looking art historical settings, I'm able to imagine (and allow viewers to imagine) a past that includes rather than excludes gay experience-and ride the coattails, as it were, of art history's imprimatur.”
Hempel’s paintings and works on paper have appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is included in private and corporate collections, including the Denver Art Museum, the Columbus Museum, the Arnot Art Museum, Microsoft Corp., the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and the New Britain Museum of American Art.
Back to Artist Page
George Billis Gallery opened its second location in the Culver City area of Los Angeles in 2004 and marks its 15th year in the Chelsea arts district in New York City. George Billis shows work by both emerging and established artists. For more information please contact the gallery at:
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
T: 310-838-3685
F: 310-838-3438
email: [email protected]
www.georgebillis.com
2716 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
T: 310-838-3685
F: 310-838-3438
email: [email protected]
www.georgebillis.com
