Read Our Interview of Artist Tim Biskup On The Occasion Of His 4/20 Exhibition at Face Guts →

 
 

American visual artist Tim Biskup is a rebellious outlier in the shark-eat-shark ecosystem of the art market. His project space, Face Guts, is a testament to his anti-establishment ethos. Ceremoniously opening on 4/20, his exhibition Spring Collection will include a new suite of paintings and drawings with Biskup’s unique brand of psychedelia—a vision quest of intuitive gestures and symmetrical forms that play with pareidolia through abstraction. It’s an ayahuasca trip chased by a Freudian drip of haunted symbolism that harkens to Cuban artist Wifredo Lam and maybe the brain scans of enlightened butterflies. Along with new art comes the release of a limited edition yearbook. “Face Guts Year Seven” is a 56-page document of exhibitions, installations, and “whatever else catches the artist’s eye.” Read more.

Devon DeJardin "Echoes Of The Past" Opens This Week @ Albertz Benda In New York

Albertz Benda presents the second solo exhibition with the gallery by Los Angeles based artist Devon DeJardin. In this exhibition entitled Echoes of the Past, the artist has reimagined Old Master  portrait paintings, redefining a visual language for the traditional genre. DeJardin’s new paintings are the culmination of five years of his exploration into what the artist terms secular ‘guardians,’ who appear as central figures in his compositions. Comprised of geometric shapes assembled into  anthropomorphic forms, the guardians have a distinctly modernist feel in their tenuous balance between figure and abstraction: 20th century artists from diverse contexts including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Yves Tanguy come to mind as significant inspiration.  

In Echoes of the Past, the artist delves further back across art historical eras, interpreting his portraits through the lens of Flemish Primitive and Italian Renaissance artists to the Dutch Golden Age and Spanish Romantic  masters. While classical portraiture throughout these epochs focused primarily on royalty and pinnacles of  society, DeJardin’s paintings conjure imaginary guardians that protect a wounded society.  

The cheerful themes of DeJardin’s earlier work have evolved into a darker, more limited palette, reinterpreting  choices by many of history’s greatest artists, including Goya, van Eyck, and Rembrandt. They are conceptual reflections of the era in which the artist has lived as DeJardin’s generation has never known life in a world without war—from the Gulf War and the War on Terror to the ongoing conflicts in the Ukraine and the Middle East. DeJardin metaphorically and physically mines the darkness in society to create his work, using shading and light to subtly tease figures from abstract shapes. The orb-like eyes of his figures appear lighter in tone, signifying a purity of spirit and hope for the future.

As always, his paintings are notable for their meticulous rendering. His figures are so sculptural that they almost seem to emerge from the wall. DeJardin goes straight to the canvas, working without a maquette to depict the figure and background in an organic, liberatory process. In recent years the artist has experimented with framing devices for these figures, including floral, architectural, or landscape imagery. In each of the new canvases, the background corresponds to the era from which the artist reimagined the imagery: six smaller works reflect the intimate and domestic scale of Dutch Golden Age paintings, while two larger vertical works lean on an Italian Renaissance tradition, complete with landscape and drapery surrounding the figures. The show serves as a testament to the enduring power of portraiture as a genre of storytelling, with each painting offering a glimpse into shared human experience across centuries. 

On view from March 7 to April 13 at Albertz Benda NYC. 515 W. 26th Street, New York, New York

Wolfgang Voigt Births Rich Yet Minimalist Psychedelia with the Loop Principle @ Galerie Nagel Draxler in Berlin

In both his musical and pictorial work, Wolfgang Voigt predominantly adheres to strict conceptual principles, which he refines and diversifies consistently. Alongside his mostly sample-based, rather free-abstract to gestural musical and figurative language, it is primarily the “loop principle” that has always fascinated Voigt. The static or varied repetition of minimalistic structures creates certain patterns, grooves, and shapes. This way of thinking is shaped not least by the structure of computer-based music programs, permeating Voigt’s work in various ways.

Whether navigating the tension between 4/4th bass drum-based groove patterns and condensed visual sequences/loops, or reopening the loops and engaging in free-abstract deconstruction (re-enchantment/de-interpretation) – for Wolfgang Voigt, sampling and “the loop” represents a way of perceiving the world. Even when adhering to certain rules and concepts in selecting and processing his source material, he intentionally allows deviations to emerge, often locating what he is “looking for” not in the intended location but in its vicinity. In the virtuoso interplay between “man and machine” he is consistently focused on the simultaneity of strict conceptual minimalism and the hypnotic-psychedelic effect of beginninglessness and endlessness. This encompassed the conceptual-rational observation of surfaces through digital pop art lenses and the creation of intoxicating, shimmering surfaces. And it involves the negation of predictability.

Mit Maschinen Sprechen is on view through April 13th at Galerie Nagel Draxler, Weydingerstraße 2/4, 10178 Berlin.

Highlights From FOG Design+Art Preview Gala Supporting SFMOMA’s Education and Family Programs

The tenth anniversary of FOG Design+Art included a decadent preview gala to support SFMOMA’s Education and Family Programs, which benefits 100,000 young people across the Bay Area every year. This year’s fair included 45 exhibitions by twentieth-century and contemporary design dealers and leading art galleries, and the launch of FOG FOCUS, an invitational designed to showcase art by young and underrepresented artists. FOG FOCUS will features nine exhibitors as well as art installations, activations, and performances in Fort Mason Center’s Pier 2 building. FOG Design+Art is open from January 18th to 21st. Click here to purchase tickets. photographs by Perry Shimon

Gil Kuno's Early Internet Exploration Remains an Electric Testament to Online Creativity in Solo Exhibition @ panke.gallery in Berlin

Gil Kuno’s work is an intricate tapestry of sound art, installations, and video art. His current solo exhibition at Panke Gallery exhibits his earliest art creations – those created on the Internet in the 90s. 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the first of these creations, Unsound. "Unsound.com" (1994) was a pioneering media experiment that fused sight and sound, allowing users to interactively engage with artists' works in both visual and audio formats. Through crowd-sourcing, it facilitated artistic curation by audience votes – an innovation that even captured the admiration of Timothy Leary, who subsequently endorsed the site. In 1996, Gil Kuno introduced Wiggle, the world's first Internet band. This groundbreaking endeavour leveraged the Internet's connectivity to forge musical collaborations across geographical boundaries, culminating in a band composed of members from Japan, Australia, and the United States. They achieved a major label deal and released multiple albums, all while some band members remained faceless due to their geographically dispersed nature.

Unsound: The Shape of Sound is on view through December 20th at panke.gallery, Hof V, Gerichtstraße 23, 13347 Berlin.

Trevor Yeung's First Solo Show at Gasworks In London Explores how emotional and behavioural conditions play out in our everyday life

Yeung’s exhibition at Gasworks delves into the complex social dynamics and interspecies relationships in London’s gay cruising areas. Central to the exhibition is a scale recreation of Hampstead Heath’s infamous “fuck tree”, a notorious ageing oak whose sturdy trunk is bent low and whose bark is polished smooth following its regular nocturnal use. Cast in soap, Yeung’s version fills the dark gallery with an earthy, moist scent – evoking a liminal space of desire, longing, and shame.

Glistening and ephemeral, the soap replica embodies the tree and presents it as an intimate object to be used and consumed. Slowly worn away by physical interactions, it touches and rubs against out bodies, smoothing and disintegrating over time.

At Gasworks a sense of quiet reverie is accompanied by additional presences of animal and nature as Yeung further examines his emotional connection with Hampstead Heath. The walls are painted in a cold, grey gradient, similar to the transient moment just before fresh morning light hits the ground. Acorns glisten in the gentle light, and the sound of water splashing on

the ground can be heard. Together, these elements combine to explore the fluid interplay between night and day, public and private, concealing and being seen.

Trevor Yeung
Soft ground, 2023
Courtesy of the artist

Soft Ground is on display through December 17th at Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall St, London

Balenciaga's Short Documentary Detailing Its Heritage And Birthplace

On October 19, 2023, Balenciaga launched an in-depth look at the heritage of 10 - 12 Avenue George V, the House’s Paris birthplace. A short documentary details the history behind and continuing legacy of the iconic addresses with a 3D-scanned tour of their renovated interiors. These conjoined spaces were the only place Cristóbal Balenciaga created and showed his Paris collections, and where he lived and worked until the Couture House’s closure in 1968.

A renovation project was initiated to restore these rooms with respect to that era of austerity and elegance, as well as to accommodate a turning point in the history of the House by implementing modern technology and unprecedented access to the Balenciaga Couture experience. A newly installed official plaque on the outside of the building commemorates the House’s expansion and return to its original Paris headquarters. 

The documentary shows Balenciaga Couture’s grand staircase, its sales office, the “cathedral-like” salons where models walked in silence, the preparation cabins, and the couturier’s office, all integral parts in the creation of collections then and now. “What is a legacy?” asks the narrator. “It’s a vision, of course, and it’s also a place.” 

Read An Interview of Nina Hartmann by Leo Cocar on The Occasion Of Her Exhibition at Silke Lindner →

 

portrait by Alexander Rotonodo

 

Nina Hartmann navigates a diverse array of artistic mediums, seamlessly weaving her connection to music into her creative endeavors. Her work serves as a bridge, melting the divide between mysticism and critical thought. Within her conceptual pursuits, one encounters a unique blend of archival imagery, elusive symbols, screen prints, and Xerox collages. It’s in these varied forms of media that the synergy between visual artistry and musical expression effortlessly unfold. Employing deliberate restraint, Hartmann eschews superfluous elaboration about her work. She entrusts the observer with discovering the magical quality which resides in the gap between the art and viewer. Hartmann treats the output of her mind as an algorithm; it becomes a framework for further artistic computation. Her work delves into the depths of the subconscious, revealing concepts characterized by their infinitude. Her perspective extends to the creatively unconventional, where she intriguingly regards conspiracy theories as societal relics worthy of study—an open-mindedness which enunciates her versatility as an artist. A fusion of the modern mythological emerges, as Hartmann recycles recurring themes that persist in our collective consciousness. Through her exploration of spiritual phenomena, she invites us to delve into the enigmatic, prompting us to seek understanding in realms beyond the real. Click here to read more.

‘Genetic Automata’ By Larry Achiampong and David Blandy @ Wellcome Collection In London

Larry Achiampong & David Blandy
GOD MODE 2023

This June, Welcome Collection will present Genetic Automata, a major exhibition of collaborative video works by artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, exploring race and identity in an age of avatars, videogames and ancestry DNA.

The exhibition will present a series of four films exploring scientific racism – the false belief that there are innate differences and abilities between races. It will reflect on where deeply ingrained ideas about race come from and the role that science has played in shaping these perceptions. The series highlights how scientific racism is reproduced in contemporary society, from education to healthcare, science, politics and more.

Genetic Automata at Wellcome Collection will allow visitors for the first time to view the four video installations together, unpacking the relationship between science and race injustice through the artists ’lens. It will premiere the latest work of the series _GOD_MODE_ (2023), a co-commission between Wellcome Collection, Black Cultural Archives (BCA), and Wellcome Connecting Science.

Each film employs a spoken word soundtrack and includes imagery drawn from contemporary video games, in particular those with dystopian sci-fi plots that feature the misuse of genetic material. The series begins with A Terrible Fiction (2019), which addresses the complex history of classification, categorization and segregation. It references the history of the theory of evolution and highlights the figure of John Edmonstone, a formerly enslaved Black man living in Edinburgh who taught Charles Darwin taxidermy – but whose contribution to science remains largely unacknowledged.

‘Genetic Automata’ is on view through February 11th at Welcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London

Tomás Saraceno In Collaboration: Webs Of Life @ Serpentine In London

Tomás Saraceno
Cloud Cities: Species of Spaces and Other Pieces*, 2023
Three clouds with cohabitational spaces for thirteen species and...
Courtesy the House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Robin, Starling, Barn Owl, Jackdaw, Great tit, Wren, Yorkshire Terrier,Domestic Short-hair Cat, Red Squirrel, Solitary Bees, Butterflies... with Tomas Saraceno

From 1 June to 10 September 2023, Serpentine will present Web(s) of Life, the first major exhibition in the UK of artist Tomas Saraceno and collaborators, including spider/webs; the communities of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc, Argentina; spider diviners in Somit\ Cameroon; the ongoing research-driven community projects Aeroceneand Arachnophilia initiated by the artist; as well as the life forms of the Royal Parks.

Tomas Saraceno will create a porous environment where Serpentine's building and operations will respond daily to the immediate landscape of the surrounding park and weather conditions. It will bring together new and recent interactive works to propose how it is possible to take a more responsible, and responsive, approach to one's actions in relation to other people, interspecies co-habitation, and the climate injustices unfolding across the world. Challenging the ways in which exhibitions are conceived and enacted, Web(s) of Life will become a 'living organism' that responds to the weather outside and the gallery's unique location in the biodiverse habitat of the park and beyond.

Saraceno is a multimedia artist, who for more than two decades has produced a body of work that draws attention to our role in a complex network of relationships that make up an ecosystem. Web(s) of Life at Serpentine will delve into the many ways in which life forms, extractive technologies, and energy regimes are inextricably linked to climate injustice.

Tomás Saraceno
The birds will keep calling you, 2023
Twenty-one repurposed wood and glass cabinets, minerals, tokens, mobile phones, low consumption LEDs
Courtesy of Artist

Tomás Saraceno In Collaboration: Webs Of Life is on view until September 10th at the Serpentine at Serpentine South Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA

Emily Mae Smith "Heretic Lace" @ Petzel Gallery In New York

In Emily Mae Smith’s solo exhibition, Heretic Lace, on view at Petzel Gallery in New York, the pensive figures in the artist’s staggering and ominous paintings, who often take the form of humanoid brooms (descendants of the sweeper in Disney’s Fantasia, 1940), are trapped, blood on hands, in the rattling cage of art historical motifs. They look out over the horizon, expressionless, faceless, against a large moon or the amber hued glow of a window, with their bristled limbs in entropic environs. Flowers slightly wilted, a woodpecker gnashing at the timber, carnivorous felines, and hordes of mice invade the grain. As startlingly beautiful as they are, the paintings in Heretic Lace take on darker, psychosexual overtones (as compared to Smith’s past forays into the syntax of pop)—a distant famine, the memory of plagues and the torment of the artist in a zeitgeist at war with itself and haunted by the memories of the past. Formalities contradict themselves like brilliant paradoxes of form and perspective. There is a twisted surrealism that begs you to sweep all your nightmares under the rug.

Emily Mae Smith “Heretic Lace” is on view at Petzel Gallery until November 12th. All artwork courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York

Hot Concrete: Los Angeles Comes To Hong Kong For A Groundbreaking Exhibition

K11 MUSEA presents Hot Concrete: LA to HK, the first major group presentation of Los Angeles-based artists in Hong Kong, running from Friday, 21 October through to Sunday, 13 November 2022. Sponsored and supported by UBS AG, H.Moser & Cie and Ruinart; the exhibition is curated by Sow & Tailor (Los Angeles), presented by K11 MUSEA (Hong Kong) and WOAW Gallery (Hong Kong); and co-organized by Ouyang Art Consulting (Los Angeles). Hot Concrete: LA to HK is the second iteration of Sow & Tailor’s inaugural exhibition from 2021 with an expanded selection of thirty artists and over fifty-five artworks. As an epicenter for creativity not only in Asia, but also internationally, Hong Kong enthusiastically welcomes the explosive creativity of Los Angeles and the breadth and rigor of its multidisciplinary and multi generational artists. Hot Concrete: LA to HK’s unique curatorial perspective uses the four major principles of ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, as its point of departure, particularly a fresh approach, movement, balance, and harmony. The exhibition is not only a bridge that connects two significant artistic hubs and geographies, but also provides Hong Kong’s art-viewing public with a glimpse into the current creative energy of Los Angeles and its limitless opportunities for exploration, innovation, and self-fashioning. Hot Concrete not only fosters cultural exchange, but also injects the vibrancy of Los Angeles into Hong Kong’s cultural landscape, benefiting the latter’s community of artists, curators, collectors, and enthusiasts of art.

All images Courtesy of Sow & Tailor, Los Angeles and WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong. Photography and video by Hannah Kirby / Time Based Media 911, Los Angeles.

A Better Mistake SS23 Debuts @ Milan Fashion Week

 
 

photographs by Spyros Rennt

Taking part for the first time at Milan Fashion Week, A Better Mistake presents a preview of their genderless Spring/Summer ’23 collection and their latest series of see-now-buy-now drops, which include “Influx”, a collaboration with visual artist Kushlet, “Aoi”, and the freshly launched “Persona.”

A Better Mistake “Eternal” explores the intersection of digital and physical worlds, and seeks to define the value of the digital as a whole within the installation “Alter Dimensions.”

For Spring/Summer ‘23 “Eternal”, the brand’s iconic Touch Me intarsia garments, made of high-end Italian viscose and techno yarn, appear in a new acid green variant. The silk twinset is crafted in an exclusive, thick silk fabric, in a diagonal structure. The “Eternal” print, created by NY-based artist Running File, appears across a variety of items: the quilted “Eternal” jacket with engineered print placement in the front and the back, the silk shirt with additional “Chromo” print on the chest, and the technical dress in a tight & short silhouette. The “Eternal” denim look is made of hand-sprayed organic cotton.

The “Hero” print from the collaboration with Running File is applied to hoodies and T-shirts, as well as a twinset of shirt and shorts in an ultra light fabric. The print quite literally sets the tone for the whole collection, merging the blues, lilac, and shades of purple in other looks. The “Gate” graphic was created by Milan-based artist Ultra Creature and morphs into the Modular earrings.

The brand’s best-selling pajama look now comes in two different fabrics — a striped gray and blue viscose version, and a monochromatic lilac jacquard in “Chromo” monogram — half matte, half satin.

Last but not least, a special collaboration with The End is Near, called “God’s Mistake” is presented, composed of two incredible handmade pieces, a custom-made dress and a sci-fi face mask.

Spring/Summer ‘23 marks the introduction of the “Artist Collection” conceived for collaborations on show pieces, which is kicked off with a true highlight — an acid yellow tailored look that features a “Chromo” transfer to the sleeve, and is finished by hand in aerosol shades of gray and black.
The presentation, in collaboration with queer creatives from Berlin, brings the German capital’s underground mindset to Milan. It takes place at A Better Mistake’s headquarters, a transdisciplinary creative space located on Via Fusetti 8, on the Naviglio Grande, one of the city’s most evocative and vibrant areas.

The collection is not presented on your regular model type. It comes to life on dancers and performance artists from a wide variety of backgrounds. Rather than a simple showcase of clothes, the presentation aims to express and embody its values with an unbridled, artful approach. Dancers hailing from Milano’s major international theater La Scala share the stage with the voguing and rave scenes in a firework of identities.

 
 

The installation “Alter Dimensions” completes the performance through sound. Two Berlin-based DJs, Alva and Raven, manifest the concept of warped dimensions as they perform in a futuristic and sound proof glass pod. “Alter Dimensions” explores and develops the different forms of artificial space, ranging between digital, physical and the metaverse. What is actually real, what isn’t? The interaction between the installation and the performers is integral to the presentation. A transdisciplinary approach forms the core of A Better Mistake, along with the creation of safe spaces where people are free to experiment, experience, and express.

The experimental spectacle is documented by the analog lens of internationally-renowned, Berlin-based photographer Spyros Rennt and distilled into a movie, as envisioned by A Better Mistake’s Creative Director Madame_Inc, and movie director Byron Rosero.

Ahmet Öğüt Presents "A:PPOINTED D:IRECTORS" @ A:D: Curatorial in Berlin

Jump Up! , 2022 Ahmet Öğüt

Ahmet Öğüt
Jump Up! , 2022 
Installation, with 3 selected works from the museum collection,  3 trampolines 

A:PPOINTED D:IRECTORS by Kurdish-Dutch artist, Ahmet Öğüt at A:D:Curatorial deals with institutional critique as well as a number of sociopolitical precarities, questioning the role of art institutions and artists themselves.

“A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.”

—International Council of Museums, August 24th, 2022

This recently approved new definition of the museum by ICOM is very aspiring, yet still, some objectives are far from reality. Therefore, it is the role of art professionals to find new strategies to achieve these objectives. How may we balance our roles between addressing urgent issues and not falling back into the complicit patterns of the art world? Sometimes smaller institutions can enable strategies to experiment with new formats more easily.

Topics such as museum collections, exhibition displays, public interactions, and institutional representations are addressed throughout the show, using both playful and challenging strategies. Visitors can immediately become part of the show with the installation Jump Up! by jumping on small trampolines to see selected works, which hang above eye level. Another work, No Institutional Abuse Zone, marks the area but also tries to put the same standards and parallels between human affairs and artist-institution relationships. Resulting from a google search, Appointed Curators is a collection of closely cropped portraits underscoring the prevalence of curators who choose to represent themselves with arms crossed. Those who assume this posture are often perceived as being angry, closed off, or feeling overwhelmed. This ironic take on self-representation reminds us of the importance of care, transparency, and a welcoming culture in art institutions. A:PPOINTED D:IRECTORS will be on view from October 9th - December 15th at A:D: Curatorial: Kurfürstenstraße 142, 10785 Berlin.

portrait by Ateş Alpar

Ahmet Öğüt
Appointed Curators, 2022 
250cm x 200cm 
poster 

A review of Cole Sternberg´s Exhibition "Departed for the curve" @ Praz Delavallade

 

Cole Sternberg
a boisterous stream in a boulder-choked channel, 2019
mixed media on linen

 

text by Stella Peacock-Berardini

Cole Sternberg scratches against the cheek of humanity, inviting the ideals of people in, while simultaneously belittling or questioning our existence, present and future. Sternberg's work provides a sort of kaleidoscopic effect veiling over images or winding paths and curves throughout the works, almost as if to represent the blurred lines and alternative routes our future plays as we grow in our society. It is not quite misanthropic, but provides skeptic views around human life itself, in examples such as the titles, but what may we say ourselves and the flock?,  and questions he proposes in other pieces. Within this show, he provides a distinct visual of how little we, as humans, really are, in which these curves of nature stand taller and stronger then we have been for centuries. We idolize these monuments throughout earth, while we simultaneously destroy them. This ironic analysis of nature's play within the avaricious mindset of the world today provides a start into deeper queries or fascination with the environment, especially considering current climate change worries. It proposes this idea, what if nature fought back, what if it already is? In, by reason of the high hills, the long green hills and thick wilderness juxtapose the wet, layered rocks that compete with the humans attention, the rocky wetlands win that battle, as the people consume nature's beautiful curves and ridges. The hard surfaces and towering landscapes devour the humans in, who stand miniscule compared to the surrounding land, enthralled by the natural entertainment of water rushing past, and the breeze through the rugged trees. A milky storm blue encloses this piece, as a film between the lives of the humans in the work, and the enjoyers of this piece. As the audience, we interrupt this moment between a family and the vast wilderness, becoming a part of the phenomenon once again, fascinated by the view we have been seduced by, unaware of our effect on the future of this landscape, or ignorant of our effects at the very least. The meandering and complex lines or curves in this show as well, which shape the pieces with its x-ray appearing layer in parts of the work, summons you in deeper, unsure if we are staring at a birds eye view of a lengthy canyon or the grips of a pterodactyls claws. The abstraction of the images provided in this show, allows Sternberg to reference and evolve common ideals and values of our cultural identity. It provides a memory you may relate with, or find yourself creating fictitious familial trips, yet also questioning the consciousness of people, and our ability to reflect on the intersectionality between the industrialization of the world, and the earth we have molded to our needs, for better or worse. How or will we depart from the trends of destruction we became attuned too? Sternberg pleases the eye with this work, and positively disrupts the human mind with fears we wish to avoid. Departed for the curve will be on view until July 30, 2022 at Praz Delavallade.

 
 

Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright: A Review Of Luncheon On The Grass At Jeffrey Deitch Gallery

 
 

Who said, “Painting is dead?” You’d be surprised to learn that this line was uttered by French painter Paul Delaroche in 1840 after seeing the first photographic image. Twenty-three years later, Édouard Manet painted his masterwork, Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863), or Luncheon on the Grass, and modernism was born. Painting wasn’t dead, it was finally in dialogue with the zeitgeist. With Luncheon, Manet was deliberately trying to ruffle the feathers of the traditionally neoclassical establishment. Painted on a large canvas, a scale usually reserved for gods, mythic figures, and biblical representations, Luncheon was rendered with harsh, sometimes visible brushstrokes and a nearly hallucinatory depth of field. The background bather looks primordially copy and pasted, and the starkly illuminated female nude in the foreground, next to two formally dressed men, ambiguously gazes at the viewer with an uncertain contract of consent. Like Bob Dylan’s songbook, Luncheon has been covered and remixed ad infinitum, almost from the onset of the painting’s public unveiling. And now, three centuries after Manet shocked French society, more than thirty of today’s leading painters reinterpret this modernist asteroid in oil pigments at “Luncheon on the Grass— Contemporary Responses to Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery. The group exhibition is an electric vision of a new zeitgeist, a new cosmological panoply of race, gender, class and sexuality. Many of the paintings, like Ariana Papademetropoulos’ It Becomes Blurry In The Moment (2022), are so new they are virtually wet and hang with a particular urgent immediacy, like a song coming out of the speaker for the first time. Caitlin Cherry’s Mixed Clout Relationships—Feast of the Ass (2022), is a pornographic dreamscape of famous, full-frontal rappers and clout chasers depicted in a dark fragmentation of orgiastic bodies, like a fractured plasma screen television. Other recent paintings include 57-year-old Chinese painter Liu Xiaodong's Newcomers in the Village - Response to Manet (2021), which was painted on location in Changchun in Northern China and depicts a group of friends and collaborators. Newcomers, and also a work by rising artist, Dominique Fung, called Sans Les Mains (2022), offers a fresh and rare depiction of AAPI visibility along the white hegemonic power structures of modernism. There is also Vaughn Spann’s incredible Juneteenth on the grass—after lunch (2022), which features the artist’s double-headed figures with the bather almost lost in the large expanse of a bay as fireworks explode overhead. The oldest work in the show is by the late, French New Realist, Alain Jacquet—a silkscreen on canvas entitled Le dejeuner sur l’herbe (1964)—and depicts our nude muse in the foreground, our two fully-dressed men, and our bather in the background, but in the context of a typically midcentury constellation of saturated Ben Day dots and a crystalline blue pool that harkens Cannes or some other Provençal locale on a sizzling summer day. Then there is Somaya Critchlow’s dynamic and evocative Mr. Peanut!—The Picnic (2020-2021), a delicately small painting that is a grenade packed with the ammonium nitrate and TNT of racial undertones. Mr. Peanut, whose full name is the rather colonial sounding Bartholomew Richard Fitzgerald-Smythe and was created in the image of the slave owning plantation masters of the Virginian and North Carolina peanut farms, is pictured with his white gloves, monocle, and top hat cupping the breast and kissing a Black woman. But perhaps the most direct response to Manet’s modernist masterpiece comes from Iranian-born painter Tala Madani with her 15x12 inch oil on linen, entitled Pickled (2022), which features a turd swimming in a jar that is half filled (or is it half empty?) with urine—our bather is mysterious, fecal and anonymous—there is no gender, no race—thousands of years of art history boiled down to a single piece of shit in a mason jar. Luncheon on the Grass will be on view until May 7, 2022 at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery. text by Oliver Kupper