June 6 - July 6, 2013 Artist's Reception Thursday, June 6th, 2013 6-8pm
Chrisa Biddy turns to Facebook and other social networks for inspiration for his oil and watercolor paintings. His subjects are self-represented, captured via their smart phones or digital cameras, and observed within the context of their respective lives. Biddy uses these vernacular images to transport the subject from its original common state--a snapshot, to a pared down representation of our current social media zeitgeist.
Comprised of small realistic oil and watercolor paintings, most averaging only 4 x 6 inches in size, the subject matter of Mobile Uploads explores the world of seemingly indifferent characters, with a tinge of angst. The subjects are navigating the social networking scene via the immediacy of 'point-shoot-and-post'. Although it is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, the colloquial images that serve as Biddy's source material are apparent one-liners that say: "LOOK AT ME!"
The youth portrayed in Biddy's work are generally teetering between innocence and self-awareness and often exhibit culpable or imprudent behaviors. Unlike many artists who turn to the Internet, Biddy does not try to elevate the ordinary aspects of his subjects. Rather, he choses to accentuate their foolish and boastful behavior. Like watching a train wreck; you just can't divert your eyes.
Voyeurism, exploitation, subversion, sexual exploration, etc., are all words that can be associated with Biddy's work. At the end of the day, it is simply a boy painting girls, all the while ignoring the trappings of the femme fatale and political correctness. The subjects have allowed themselves to enter a world wide web of unknown onlookers and the artist has catapulted the impermanence and awkwardness of a snapshot to the permanence and artfulness of painting.
Chrisa Biddy is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO. His work is included in the collections of the Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO, and Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (NMOCA) in Overland Park, Kansas. This is his first solo exhibition with Lyons Wier Gallery. He lives and works in New York City.
For more information and images, please contact:
Lyons Wier Gallery 542 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011 Tel: +1 212 242 6220 Email: gallery@lyonswiergallery.com www.lyonswiergallery.com
Icelandic nature is prominent in Eliasson's work, and his artistic relationship with it often involves collection or documentation that is scientific in tone. The country becomes a sensory laboratory where ideas can be developed and evolved into art, as evidenced in the multiple photographic series that would seem to witness a near compulsive need for collecting.
TAKA ISHII GALLERY, Tokyo presents NOBUYOSHI ARAKI - EroReal
7 June - 27 July 2013
Magazine pin-ups aren't interesting, are they? Especially now that they're shot digitally, they lack eroticism. They're doing it wrong. That's why I had to come in. It's not about an ambiance or concept; it's about being real. Not realism, but real?ero-real. I have to say it straight. It's not about nudity; clothed subjects can be erotic.
The approach, London presents JACK LAVENDER - Dreams Chunky
6 June - 28 July 2013
Jack Lavender draws from a world of mass-produced objects, transforming their singular banality through their composition within such structures as grids and metal armatures. Sitting between the disciplines of painting, sculpture and collage, Lavender brings different elements together to create a new entity.
