Paintings and Drawings, 1984-1999 |
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Jul 9 - Aug 12, 1999 | |
During July and August the George Adams Gallery will show paintings and drawings by Peter Saul. The exhibition will include five canvases and three drawings from the period between 1984 and 1999. The Gallery's exhibition coincides with the opening of a retrospective exhibition that will tour four venues in France and Belgium, starting at the Musee de L'abbaye de St. Croix, Sables D'Olonne and closing at the Musee Mons, in Belgium. The retrospective exhibition is accompanied by a major monograph comprised of 168 pages with 130 illustrations, an interview with the artist and four essays, including one by Robert Storr. The text will be published in French and English, and will be available in the U.S. later this summer. The gallery exhibition includes works dealing with all of Peter Saul's favorite themes. For example, one of the works in the show is from a series of paintings and drawings featuring Ronald Reagan as president. Ronald Reagan in Grenada depicts a vibrantly colored Reagan single-handedly subduing the Grenada army with fingertip lasers and cans of Coca-Cola. Also included are both the painting and study for Jeffrey Dahmer Won't Eat His Vegetables, 1992, one of many works featuring sexual deviates in electric chairs that have occupied a special place in Saul's work since 1960. The two most recent works included are Your Brain Says No and The Death of Venus, both from 1999. According to Saul, no one else is doing death, so he thought he would give it a try. ("Someone has to do it," he says). Other works in the show cover such themes as the art world (Art Critics' Suicide, 1996) and women (Woman Artist II, 1984). Exhibition Checklist Clockwise from the right: 1. Death of Venus, 1999 acrylic on canvas 54 3/4 x 66 5/8 inches PSp 108 2. Ronald Reagan in Grenada, 1984 oil, acrylic on canvas 84 x 72 inches PSp 86 3. O. J., 1996 acrylic, alkyd on canvas 84 x 72 inches PSp 90 4. Your Brain Says No, 1999 acrylic on canvas 71 5/8 x 66 inches PSp 107 5.Art Critics' Suicide, 1996 acrylic, alkyd on canvas 66 x 84 1/4 inches PSp 94 5. Jeffrey Dahmer, 1993 acrylic, alkyd on canvas 72 x 66 inches PSp 80 7. Woman Artist II, 1983 acrylic, alkyd on canvas 90 x 66 inches PSp 92 8. Jeffrey Dahmer Won't Eat his Vegetables, 1992 acrylic, oil pastel, pencil on paper 51 x 40 inches PSd 72 9. Please Leave Me Clean, 1994 acrylic, pencil on board 23 x 29 inches PSd 84 10. Bizarro #2, 1999 acrylic, pastel on paper 27 3/4 x 31 1/8 inches PSd 124 |