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The Fuller Building 41 East 57th Street, Second Floor New York, NY 10022 212-628-1600 • info@benrimon.com • www.davidbenrimon.com © 2020, David Benrimon Fine Art LLC Curated by Eve Wiener & Isabel Dicker October 15 - November 27, 2020TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction4 Derrick Adams6 Pair: Interior Life (Man) & Woman, 2019 Derrick Adams7 Style Variation 5, 2018 Derrick Adams8 Self Portrait on Float, 2019 Trent Alvey9 LOVE FREEDOM • VOTE, 2020 Lauren Benrimon10 Flag Me Down, 2013 Mel Bochner11 Blah, Blah, Blah, 2018 James Casebere12 Cloudy/Sunny Skies, 2013 Indira Cesarine13 ACT NOW (Turquoise), 2020 Robert Indiana14 The American Love, 1975 Robert Indiana15 Obama HOPE (Red, White and Blue), 2009 Rashid Johnson16 Broken Men, 2019 Titus Kaphar17 Sacrifice (Diptych), 2011 Deborah Kass20 Enough Already, 2012 Deborah Kass22 VOTE HILLARY, 2016 Jeff Koons23 Flag, 2020 Bonnie Lautenberg24 Even Lady Liberty Lost Some of Her Freedom!, 2020 Roy Lichtenstein26 I Love Liberty, 1982 Roy Lichtenstein27 Forms in Space, 1985 Robert Longo28 Study for jet pilot NO.1, 2007 Robert Longo29 Black Flag Monotype, 1999 Robert Longo30 Untitled (Flag), 2013 Paul Rousso31 American Flag at Ease (American Flag Hung Out to Dry), 2016 Ed Ruscha32 Cold Beer Beautiful Girls, 2009 Ed Ruscha33 That Was Then, This Is Now, 2014 Ed Ruscha34 Mocha Standard, 1969 Ed Ruscha35 EE-NUF!, 2020 Bernie Taupin Sleeping Beauty - Temporary Abduction, 2020 40 h x 64 w in Andy Warhol37 Bald Eagle, from Endangered Species, 1983 Andy Warhol38 Tomato Soup, from Campbell’s Soup I (F. & S. II.46), 1968David Benrimon Fine Art is pleased to announce the fall exhibition “Rethink America,” open from October 15 to November 27, 2020. In this unprecedented turn of a new decade, our era has become characterized by efforts to rethink America’s history and delve deeply into its values and systems. Timely issues of race, gender, equality and justice have pushed artists, museums and galleries to investigate America’s nationalist histories and colonialist legacies, privilege, and styles of representation. Within the art world, museums are deaccessioning major works to diversify their programs and institutions have re-hung their collection to question the canon, confronting issues in the art world and society as a whole. “Rethink America” brings together contemporary works that challenge representation, popular culture and symbols, the American flag and its promises, and the upcoming election. Titus Kaphar’s diptych “Sacrifice,” a centerpiece of the exhibition, is a work that keenly demonstrates our country’s hidden histories and challenges styles of representation. Kaphar reconstructs accepted historical narratives and reconfigures art history to include the African-American subject. His artistic process dismantles representation in art by physically transforming his canvases with techniques of cutting, erasing, and adding tar, in order to surface suppressed histories. “Sacrifice” consists of two panels placed together; the seated white figure is cut out and transposed onto the other space, highlighting the two African-American figures in the background and bringing them to the fore. The open area becomes an active absence – revealing what has been hidden – the stories in the background. A Derrick Adam’s large-scale work from his Beauty World Series also examines how African-American experiences intersect with art history, American iconography and consumerism. To create “Style Variation 5,” Adams reproduced a digital photograph of a wig mannequin and then painted hairstyles and makeup atop in his signature fragmented style. This single head investigates the cultural construction of the human form and Black identity in America. America’s cultural identity and popular tastes have been investigated by artists for decades, each highlighting their own experience. Whereas Adams’ 4depicts items from beauty supply stores, wig shop, nail and braiding salons and boutiques, New York Pop artists of the 1960s, like Andy Warhol, depict middle-class consumer items like “Tomato Soup” as an American symbol. For West Coast artist Ed Ruscha, popular culture is Standard gas stations on the open road and “Cold Beer Beautiful Girls.” The American flag, our country’s most significant icon, and its presumed promises of liberty, justice and equality have been reinterpreted and questioned by artists, especially amidst this election cycle. Robert Longo and Roy Lichtenstein’s depictions of a waving flag and lady liberty is foiled by Paul Rousso’s drooping “American Flag Hung Out To Dry” and Bernie Taupin’s wrapped flag “Sleeping Beauty - Temporary Abduction.” These paintings signify current political tensions and privilege rather than represent USA’s strength and regality. Placed one after another and in different levels of distress, these flags are curated to look repetitive and to question our country. With the impeding November election and imminent need for change, our neon installation of text-based works forefront action. Deborah Kass’ “Enough Already,” Indira Cesarine’s “ACT NOW,” and Trent Alvey’s “LOVE∙FREEDOM∙VOTE” emphasize the importance of having a voice in our democracy. Other works by Robert Indiana, James Casebere, Bonnie Lautenberg and Jeff Koons poke fun at America’s current state with an eroding white picket fence and masked stature of liberty, nodding to our past glory and focusing on the present. At this critical moment in 2020, just moments before an election and amidst a worldwide pandemic, this is the perfect time to reinterpret history at David Benrimon Fine Art. Artists: Derrick Adams; Trent Alvey; Lauren Benrimon; Mel Bochner; James Casebere; Indira Cesarine; Robert Indiana; Rashid Johnson; Titus Kaphar; Deborah Kass; Jeff Koons; Bonnie Lautenberg; Roy Lichtenstein; Robert Longo; Paul Rousso; Ed Ruscha; Bernie Taupin; Andy Warhol. For further information and for all press inquiries, please contact Eve Wiener at eve@benrimon.com or Isabel Dicker at isabel@benrimon.com , or by phone at (212) 628-1600 . 5Derrick Adams Pair: Interior Life (Man) & Woman, 2019 Pigment print on Hotpress 24 h x 18 w in 6Derrick Adams Style Variation 5, 2018 Acrylic paint and pencil on archival inkjet paper, frame 71 h x 45 w in 7Derrick Adams Self Portrait on Float, 2019 Woodblock, gold leaf, collage 40 h x 40 w in 8Trent Alvey LOVE FREEDOM • VOTE, 2020 Neon 30 h x 30 w x 5d in 9Next >