Here's a photo of Iggy Pop posing naked for a life drawing class at the New York Academy of Art. Twenty-one artists, from all walks of life, took part in the project, with the resulting portraits of the punk rock icon set to debut at the Brooklyn Museum this fall. Stripping off and baring all is for many not exactly a comfortable experience. But this is Iggy, and after years of exhibitionism, his junk has finally been recognized as a work of art.
Does Nicola Samori ever underwhelm? The Italian painter and sculptor caught my attention some two years ago, when I stumbled upon his work on Artsy . Samori creates dark, Baroque-inspired oil paintings by layering and fusing images on canvas, wood or other objects. His work stems from fear, and his process involves "skinning" his painted figures with a palette knife or thinner and painting over the surfaces multiple times to achieve deep-seated results. "Peeling off the faces make it possible for all the neglected parts of a representation to come to light and, as far as I am concerned, they all work even better without any kind of control," Samori explained in a 2012 interview . "I don't know what it is that gives a person their identity, it's such complex matter. I definitely don't think a portrait can eventually give it back because you can always perceive its author behind its eyes; well, maybe others' portraits (even their removal,...

Comments
Post a Comment