Frank Magnotta “co-patriot”

Junior Projects

poster for Frank Magnotta “co-patriot”

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JUNIOR PROJECTS presents “Co-Patriot,” a solo exhibition of new works on paper by Frank Magnotta. This is the artist’ s first solo show at the gallery.

Frank Magnotta’s intricately rendered graphite portraits begin with layered and morphed composites of modern logos culled from the mid 1960s and 70s, the artist’s formative years. These initial skeletons, assembled digit ally, create the framework for his masterfully drawn, contorted busts. Built into each unique portrait are the visible effects — detrimental, elevating, or otherwise — of the institutional power(s) the logos represent on the individual psyche.

Carefully selecting emblems representative of an era that celebrated the United States’ Bicentennial, Magnotta presents figures that internalize both patriotism and the anxiety of American influence. “Bicentennial Bob,” for example, presents a “post - hippie” donning a fri nged leather jacket with a bifurcated, mustachioed face; on one side we see the subject composed, sporting voluminous waves, and carrying what is possibly a Marijuana leaf, and on the other, cornrows, a bug eye and a furrowed brow. Here, Magnotta implies t hat his subjects are conflicted — all is not what it appears within the individual. Similarly, a purposefully stained “Debbie Double” hurriedly serves up classic American fare with one bloodshot eye and one dizzyingly replicated eye, while simultaneously being served by her own stress. She alleviates this tension only by doubling down on cigarettes, another institutionally charged image from the Gerald Ford era inspired by Magnotta’s own experience growing up in an economically struggling Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The variation in Magnotta’s line reveals a tight intimacy with the medium while also reflecting the intimacy of his subjects’ neuroses. His use of his own hand to interpret digitized logos is itself a not so subtle comment on the individual’s loss of identity and invention as ‘we the people’ become ever more ‘we the enablers’ of advertising. The neo - grotesque quality of these portraits is not so much for the sake of humor (a la Basil Wolverton) as incisive social commentary. Moments before Dorian Gray stabs Basil Hallward’s hideous portrait of himself in an attempt to obliterate the only true record of his life of malevolent deeds, he is forced to face his complicity in his actions. Magnotta’s portraits similarly confront the collusion of each individual’ s self - determination with corporate, governmental, and societal powers.

Media

Schedule

from January 11, 2015 to March 08, 2015

Opening Reception on 2015-01-11 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Frank Magnotta

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