Anthony Reynolds

Sturtevant

02 Jun - 08 Jul 2006

STURTEVANT
cold fear
2 June- 8 July 2006

Anthony Reynolds Gallery is proud to announce the first UK solo exhibition of the work of Sturtevant.

There are few living artists whose work can be said to have had such profound repercussions for the intellectual, aesthetic and material evaluation of art. For over forty years, Sturtevant has been engaged in repeating works by many of the most important artists of her time and in so doing confronting head-on the nature of origin and originality. She has ruthlessly demonstrated that no act can be an ex-act copy and every considered act must be original, where the intention is the source.

“The brutal truth of the work is that it is not a copy”

“The push and shove of the work is the leap from image to concept”

“The dynamics of the work is that it throws out representation”

Sturtevant has consistently homed in on some of the most significant, contemporary artists (often long before they achieved their iconic status), and her own work in turn has become as potent as that which she chose to repeat. With phenomenal rigour Sturtevant has demonstrated the power of thought to release and radicalise content and to continuously establish new originals. A Black Marilyn is a Black Marilyn. A Warhol Black Marilyn is a Warhol. A Sturtevant Warhol Black Marilyn is, unquestionably, a Sturtevant.

In this exhibition, two Sturtevant Warhol Black Marilyns are held in an electrifying face-off by a Sturtevant Duchamp Fresh Widow.

In 2004/5, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt staged an exhibition of unprecedented audacity. The entire museum was cleared of its existing holdings and devoted to a comprehensive exhibition of Sturtevant’s work. This exhibition was widely regarded to have been the most important of the year (voted by an international committee Best International Exhibition, the prize awarded annually by Beaux Arts Magazine) and confirmed the unique and important position of Sturtevant in the history of the art of our time.
 

Tags: Sturtevant, Andy Warhol