BE THEREBirdiePresented by Lombard-Freid Projects November 20, 2009- January 9, 2010Reception: November 20, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pmUlrich Lamsfuss
The artist is quoted, “I am drowning in fiction: man-made mass production of images, meaning, information, art. I’m suffering from a lack of reality but I am longing for one. I think real reality is exotic and rare. The confusion makes me want to see.” Stockfood, a painting in the exhibition of an image bought via an Internet food photo agency, refers to classic still lives, while pointing to the sources responsible for blurring the line between goods that are needed and goods for which a need is created by commercial images. While his meticulous precision and technique may appear classical, Lamsfuss’ work resists categorization and marks a purposeful departure from past traditions of realist painting. His work uses the illusionistic devices of realism, paying close attention to surface and perspective, yet operates on a conceptual level as an inquiry into the ways in which images and symbols have replaced reality and meaning. “Watching is more true than knowing. This is the irony of indifference and brings back the aura into an empty world.” The seeming randomness of subject matters is deceptive, as the selection is born from an almost compulsive collection of images to which Lamfuss has a personal relationship and that together present a surprisingly unified description of contemporary culture- a Tiffany vase, a Chinese laborer in a rural landscape, a cross section of a Mercedes Benz, a portrait of actor Michael Douglas. In complement to the paintings are works on paper in ink, watercolor or pencil, which re-imagine images of famous figures running the spectrum from Claudia Schiffer to Claude Levi-Strauss, Arnold Schwarzenegger to Alfred Hitchcock. Upcoming exhibitions at Lombard-Freid: January 15 - February 20, 2010 Dan Perjovschi February 26 - April 3, 2010 Tala Madani
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