NYAB Event - Kim Luttrell, Jacques Chuilon "Divas, Divos & Deities"

Kim Luttrell, Jacques Chuilon "Divas, Divos & Deities"

Susan Eley Fine Art

This event has ended.

Susan Eley Fine Art presents "Divas, Divos & Deities" features recent paintings of iconic subject matter by artists Kim Luttrell and Jacques Chuilon.

This two-person exhibition is comprised of Luttrellʼs paintings of rock music icons and Hollywood celebrities of the past generation—Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe and others—and Chuilonʼs paintings of ancient deities, mythological and historical characters, such as Bacchus, David and Goliath, Venus and Paris and Mary and Child.

Both artists look to the past for subject matter and inspiration. Luttrell in record albums, film and memories of her childhood growing up in the deep south, and Chuilon in the history books and museums of his native France. Yet, their canvases are painted with a freshness that only the techniques and acrylic materials of the 20th century could enable, as evident in the flatness of the subjects against the stylized backgrounds, rendered in comic book style with large blocks of contour free color.

Once called by a critic “a fusion of Henri Matisse and Andy Warhol,” Chuilon takes as his subject matter classic figures studied throughout travels in Europe, and specifically Naples, Italy, for this recent series. His paintings emphasize simplified, two-dimensional form, rendered in brilliant color. Similarly, Luttrell utilizes a comic book aesthetic, indebted to Warhol and Lichtenstein. She enlarges the faces of her celebrity subjects and renders them in flat, cartoon style, drawing our focus to the unique persona of each megastar. Both artists explore our relationships with those we worship or at least admire—whether they be myth or real, from an ancient or near past or the stuff of classical paintings or Reality TV.

Kim Luttrell, raised in Henderson, Kentucky, attended the Ringling School of Fine Art and Design in Sarasota, FL, majoring in Graphic Design. She moved to NYC in 1991 and currently works in Brooklyn. Luttrell has participated in solo and group shows in New York and her work is in corporate and private collections throughout the US, Holland, Israel, Australia, Argentina, England, Brazil, China, Japan and the Republic of Guinea. She is a recipient of the Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant & Artist Fellowship Grant, was a featured artist at the House and Garden Showhouse in New Jersey's Havemeyer Mansion and is also the topic of an independent documentary produced by an Australian filmmaker. Her work has been added to the permanent archives of the Library and Research Center of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.

French artist Jacques Chuilon was born in Versailles and currently resides in Paris. His recent series of vivid acrylic paintings in a neo-classical style are inspired by legends, Greek mythology and pop culture. Chuilon studied Art History and Architecture at the School of Beaux Arts, Paris, and considers himself a self-taught painter. His models include Vermeer, Veronese and Vouet. Chuilon is also a professional photographer and trained classical musician and the author of several books on music, with one now released in the US. He has had numerous one-person exhibitions in recent years in Paris, notably at the Bertin- Toublanc Gallery and the Art Partner Gallery. Chuilon will be featured in a one-person show with the Shine Art Space in Shanghai, China. His paintings are in private collections in New York, Washington, DC, Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong, Canton and Taiwan.