Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Henry Gunderson Offers New Paintings in ‘It’s a Great Time to be Alive’

Henry Gunderson's new solo show at Derek Eller Gallery, titled "It's a Great Time to be Alive," explores how an “image-saturated culture” is deeply embedding itself into our psyches. Running through Feb. 2 at the New York City space, the show features a self-portrait of the painter, “It’s Hard to See from Where I’m Standing," seen below.

Henry Gunderson’s new solo show at Derek Eller Gallery, titled “It’s a Great Time to be Alive,” explores how an “image-saturated culture” is deeply embedding itself into our psyches. Running through Feb. 2 at the New York City space, the show features a self-portrait of the painter, “It’s Hard to See from Where I’m Standing,” seen below.

On the other works in the show, the gallery says, “Accentuating the commercialization of diversity, a group portrait of shiny plastic American Girl dolls represents the spectrum of ethnicities and abilities and their archetypal portrayal in American media. Two works incorporating butterflies juxtapose this symbol of transformation and beauty with imagery from pulp western illustrations; once rough and masculine cowboys are rendered in garish make up and drag. A pair of hyper-masculine paunchy wrestlers are scissored together in an unexpected arrangement. An intimate study of high-tech motorcycle gloves, patchworked with an array of sewn panels, become a highly fetishized commercial product.”

See more works on the venue’s page.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
"I think listening to some songs can be a lot like looking at a painting. The meaning can vary greatly depending on who's listening and what they're feeling at the time and where they're at in their lives. I love the idea of something being so open to interpretation," shares Nate Frizzel on his recent show at CHG Circa, "Dark Was The Night". The show borrows very loose inspiration from 1920s gospel song, “Dark is the Night". It is what paved the direction Frizzel wanted to go in. The rest, he leaves to the beholder. Photos from opening night after the jump!
Swiss painter Barbara Tosatto’s work takes cues from the storied and symbolic. Most of her pieces focus on a solitary figure, transplanted in some vacant background, isolated from indicators of time or setting. These figures are human, but disrupted — bound in sheets and gauzy veils, or weighed down with ropes or chains. With titles like “The Tyranny of Doubt” or “The Truce” it’s hard not to see the pieces as portraits of mythological characters, embodying some archetypal human ability or curse. Mostly depicted with their faces obscured, or contorted from some type of bondage, the figures’ entrapment seems more tragic in their desolate surroundings, offering no alternative to the struggle. But their situation is still somehow noble, if seen as shouldering the weight of humanity’s conditions.
Lu Cong is known for his striking portraits, whether rendered in oil, watercolor, colored pencil, or all three. His latest work toys with form, blending textures, tools, and styles to create evocative pieces. The artist was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
San Francisco-based artist Zio Ziegler's work requires two levels of the viewer's attention. There are the large figures almost always present in his canvases, drawings and murals — Cubist-inspired bodies whose heads and limbs appear splayed out the surface. Ziegler stitches together these characters with intricate, collage-like patterns that often evoke indigenous, South American folk art forms. The repeating patterns within each figure inform our understand of the larger whole. His solo show "Intuitivism" opens tomorrow, November 15, at LeQuiVive Gallery in Oakland. Earlier this week, the artist painted a large-scale mural on the corner of 17th St. and Webster St. Take a look at some photos of the mural as well as a preview of the exhibition below.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List