LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Steve Wolfe On Paper

20 Nov 2010 - 20 Feb 2011

© Steve Wolfe
Untitled (Do You Believe In Magic?), 1992
Oil, enamel, lithography and modeling paste on board
13 3/8 x 13 1/8 inches (framed)
Collection of James and Debbie Burrows.
STEVE WOLFE ON PAPER

Ahmanson Building, Level 2
November 20, 2010–February 20, 2011

For the last twenty years, Steve Wolfe has created objects and drawings that investigate intersections among material culture, intellectual history, and personal and collective memory. Wolfe’s art represents objects of cultural mass dissemination—books and records. His painted objects employ the tradition of trompe l’oeil, and often literally fool the eye on first inspection.

Indebted to Pop Art, Wolfe’s work manifests an updated approach to craft. and an almost erotic representation of the fact that one can fall in love with that which is ephemeral (ideas, music). His carefully considered subjects include reproductions of books by Gertude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Raymond Chandler, Frank O’Hara, Marcel Duchamp, and James Joyce, thus creating a portrait of the artist as a perpetual student.

This exhibition will focus on the artist’s works on paper, many of which combine aspects of drawing, collage and printmaking.

This exhibition and catalogue are collaboratively produced by the Menil Collection and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Organized by Franklin Sirmans, curator of contemporary art at LACMA, and Carter Foster, curator of drawings at the Whitney Museum.

This exhibition is generously supported by Laura and John Arnold, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Lois and George Stark, Scott and Judy Nyquist, Michael Zilkha and the City of Houston.
This exhibition was organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and The Menil Collection, Houston.
 

Tags: Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Steve Wolfe