Provocative Pieces of Art
By Mackenzie Gavel, November 4th, 2010
Now through November 13th, the Robert Miller Gallery will be hosting three incredible exhibitions featuring select paintings, drawings and screen prints by Jean-Michel Basquiat, photographs and installation by Robert Mapplethorpe and recent photographs and models by Mayumi Terada.
- Jean-Michel Basquiat, RETURN OF THE CENTRAL FIGURE, 1983, Silkscreen on canvas, 57 1/2 x 75 1/2 inches, 146.1 x 191.8 cm
- Jean-Michel Basquiat, UNTITLED, 1981, Oil & Oilstick On Board, 32 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 1 inches, 82.6 x 47 x 2.5 cm
A pivotal member of the Neo-Expressionist Movement, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work expresses a whirlwind of confusing intrigue. The graffiti artist was born in Brooklyn in 1960 and started his career by spraying his tag, SAMO, all over the streets of SoHo.
- Robert Mapplethorpe, PETER REED, 1980, Gelatin Silver Print, 20 x 16 inches, 50.8 x 40.6 cm
Provocative, controversial, thrilling and enticing are the four central words that come to mind when trying to accurately depict the emotions evoked from Robert Mapplethorpe’s work. The gallery features Mapplethorpe’s 13 photographs from the X Portfolio, which was first published in the Robert Miller Gallery in 1978.
- Mayumi Terada, MODEL FOR STONES AND MAP 080401, 2008 Mixed Media, 12 x 12 x 3 inches, 30.5 x 30.5 x 7.6 cm
- Mayumi Terada, STONES AND MAP 080401, 2008, Gelatin Silver Print, 24 x 20 inches, 60.96 x 50.8 cm
Mayumi Terada makes it easy to get lost within the imagination, as her work’s most prominent asset is that of absence. Through subtle distortions of seemingly simplistic scenes, Terada establishes a meaningful collaboration with the viewer. In her work, she handcrafted all of her own models to use in the images.
