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Indepth Arts News: "Jeff Ramirez : This is the life - These are the real things" 2010-02-06 until 2010-02-27 Cella Gallery North Hollywood, CA, USA United States of America
Artist Statement
I have always felt like I was living between two worlds. In each, I
was a different person, always hyperaware of my surroundings. Every
gesture amounted to a self-conscious performance. In images, I felt
improperly represented. I grew to disassociate with my own reflection
in imagery and thus became skeptical of the images of others.
Every day I take in countless pictures, many of which encourage me not
to ask questions, but rather to just accept their truths. While they
may appear to be candid, they are capturing both pose and performance.
I am compelled to create images using others as props, stand-ins and
doubles for myself. While typical portrait subjects want to
demonstrate their power and import, the subjects in my paintings are
isolated and aware that they are being watched. They are barely there,
reduced by the act of creation.
The series of small paintings are styled after paparazzi images and
photographs commonly found on social networking sites. The voluminous
production of such images allows for banality and loss of context.
Rendered in a photorealistic style, these paintings receive a physical
presence that gives weight to the images. They act as anti-portraits
that reduce an experience to a singular expression of denial. The pose
of the subject is a response to being identified and singled out by
the creator for the benefit of the viewer.
In the large paintings, the same ideas have been extended to the more
straightforward traditional full portrait. In this style, the images
are more claustrophobic and confined and so are the subjects. They
exist in spaces bound by limitations with no possibility of autonomy.
In order to maintain the narrative constriction, the paintings
required additional elements, surrealist textures and coverings still
rendered in the photorealist style. These impositions of the creator
generate tension while making a traditional format more open to
interpretation. These subjects are trapped in a moment and are
vulnerable to projection. They sit, isolated in pure emotion and
expressions of grief, fear or angst.
- Jeff Ramirez
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Jeff's paintings almost always evoke the same jaw-dropping reaction
followed by the utterance: "this has to be a photograph‰. A relative
newcomer to the fine art world, Jeff's technical skill and mastery of
photo-realistic painting along with his unique and often humorous take
on the art of portraiture, has already garnered him much praise and
attention on numerous art blogs and websites. In Los Angeles his
paintings have been shown in a handful of themed group shows,
including last year's Crazy 4 Cult 2 at Gallery 1988, where Jeff's
four small paintings of Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly sold and later
were made into limited edition prints. This is Jeff's first solo
exhibition with Cella Gallery.
