NYAB Event - Ivan Witenstein Exhibition

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At Derek Eller Gallery
Media: Sculpture

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For this exhibition, Ivan Witenstein seeks to magnify the impact of stagnation in American political thinking. Working from series of editorial cartoon catalogs from the 1970s and 80s, the artist found striking parallels within the current political climate. He states, "The 2008 presidential campaign is posed as a list of historic firsts and never-before-seens, but when using the lens of these editorial cartoons, one is stuck by the identical themes, ideological fault lines, and regional conflicts from the Carter-Reagan era to today."

Witenstein uses a variety of materials and methods, including cast epoxy and resin, terracotta and carved wood and milled foam. His sculpture, comprised of both human and animal forms, combines historic and contemporary personalities with literary and cartoon-like characters. Reflecting the imagery of Ralph Bakshi and Tex Avery, he uses pigs as stand-ins for cops and anthropomorphized animals as sardonic human caricatures posed as buddies in various misadventures. Some of Witenstein's figures are arranged in stacks and piles while others include one figure riding on top of another like the iconic western horse and cowboy. This archetypal image of American destiny, immortalized by turn of the century sculptors Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, becomes more urgent through Witenstein's reconfiguration. In other works, the artist continues his exploration of the Mark Twain characters Huck Finn and Jim. One sculpture, which depicts Jim as an 8 foot tall basketball player throwing a tantrum on the floor evokes the sentiment of Twain's provocative novel which has been both condemned as racist and celebrated as an attack against racism in America.

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