Alvin Ong’s oil paintings, depicting decadence and nondiscriminatory consumption, crackle with energy. These works, following a tradition in art history of examining these themes, move between eroticism and aggression. The Singaporean artist offered this most recent body of work as “Supper Club” earlier this year.
“The durian, king of fruits, has particular prominence,” the gallery says. “Renowned, or some say infamous, for its odour and unique fleshy texture, it is represented as an object of desire on the canvas, causing the figures to go wild with limbs akimbo and jaws falling wide. Allusions to the compositional and narrative structures of European history painting – altarpieces in particular – abound through playful appropriation of the sacred and the profane. These are baroque scenes of ritualistic indulgence, of food made carnal. Contemporary society’s pursuit of gastronomic delight is given a surrealistic twist.”
See more of Ong’s work on his site.
Li Songsong, known for using thick layers of paint to craft scenes that appear similar to fragmented memories, brings his historical look at China to Pace Gallery with the show "One of My Ancestors." The show, running through Dec. 21, is the first solo effort from the artist in the U.S. since 2011. Much of the imagery comes from archival and public sources, the gallery says.
Often inserting phantom characters in her paintings,