being a former art gallery owner, i still get hit with tons of emails about artists, openings, and toys - some of them i really enjoy checking out. like the latest and greatest from
DKE toys or the lovely folks over at
StrangeCo. - suppliers of some of my favorites from Tokidoki.

this morning however, i got an email from
Contemporary Art News in London - not sure how i got on their mailing list, but i'm glad i am! anyway, they are promoting a show for
"a major retrospective of the work of Glenn Brown to be presented from 20 February to 10 May 2009 in Liverpool and from 28 May until 4 October 2009 in Turin" and the image they sent over you really got my attention.
Glenn Brown - Hunky Dory 2005 © The Artist courtesy of Tate Liverpooli really enjoy how rich and saturated the muted color pallet is - it's as if it's really a painting of a clown disguised as an old man. here's what they had to say about the artist:
"One of the most revered painters of his generation, this exhibition will bring together the largest selection of the artist’s work to date. Brown borrows from art history and popular culture, working from the images of Dalí, Auerbach, Rembrandt, science fiction illustrators and many others to investigate the languages of painting and how images are read by the viewer. Brown is fascinated by how reproductions of paintings distort the qualities of their originals. Size, colour, surface texture and brushwork are elements by which original works are transformed from the familiar into the alien. Working from books or projecting reproductions onto a blank picture surface, Brown wildly embellishes his source material. Naturalistic colour becomes putrid or kitsch, figures are elongated or enlarged into the grotesque and heavy impasto, although painstakingly copied, is rendered entirely flat." i only wish i could see this piece in person as i'm sure it represents much better in real life - sadly, i don't think i'll be jetting off to London anytime soon. for now tho, i'll just enjoy the pic.
Labels: art, Contemporary Art News, gallery, Glen Brown, Turin