NYAB Event - “Stranger Than Fiction” Exhibition

“Stranger Than Fiction” Exhibition

Jonathan LeVine Gallery

This event has ended.

Stranger Than Fiction features works by a selection of artists who have a photorealistic style and use portraiture as their subject. Due to the democratization of photography, portraiture is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and has inspired the artists in this exhibition to distort their subjects, either literally, figuratively or both. This departure away from traditional portraiture draws attention to society’s current state of hyper-reality, in which having a direct relationship with the physical “real” is no longer necessary.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Russian painter Ivan Alifan masks the physical details of his subjects with a thick white liquid, which appears to have been poured over them. The milky substance sensually drips down from the top of his figures, partially obscuring their features, yet accentuating the contours of their form. His portraits are alluring despite their ambiguous nature and create a visual language that is literally whitewashed with sexual subtext.

Jenny Morgan pushes beyond representation with an ethereal style to experiment with spiritual realism. Born in Utah and currently residing in New York City, Morgan uses her loved ones as subjects and obscures their physical characteristics to create supernatural portraits that steer away from perfection in an attempt to illuminate the invisible forces within people.

Juan Francisco Casas, a Spanish artist who currently resides in Paris and Madrid, creates ballpoint pen drawings of party scenes. He depicts a youthful subculture, or “the selfie generation,” with compositions similar to those posted on social media sites that glorify everyday existence and encourage self-obsession.

Lu Cong was born in China and immigrated to the United States at the age of 11. His portraits strive to capture both the physical likeness and emotional state of his subjects. Using a diluted color palette, his ghostly pale subjects stare directly at the viewer and provoke an unsettling confrontation.

Wisconsin-born, New York City-based artist Melissa Cooke indulges in narcissistic characters and uses herself as the subject to represent contemporary typecasts. Combining her passion for drawing, photography and theatrics, Cooke physically transforms her appearance in an attempt to reveal the expectations dictated by popular culture and how fantasy can transform into reality.