January 5th - February 9th,
2013
Artist’s Reception
Saturday, January 5th, 2013 (3-6pm)
Lyons Wier Gallery
542 West 24th St., New York, NY 10011
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 11am-6pm
Nearest subway: C.E @ 23rd
St & 8th Ave
Lyons
Wier Gallery is pleased to present The Origin of Nymphs, by New York
based artist Jeff Muhs.
With
The Origin of Nymphs, Muhs’ builds
upon his ongoing series of paintings, Another
History. The artist cites that through his constant study of art history,
he became very interested in certain iconic images that have sustained their
compositional and communicative prominence throughout the ages. In
particular, the intangible characteristics that enable some works of art to
transcend generations and time and become a part of our collective culture and
art historical lexicon today.
In
approaching great works from the Renaissance to Romanticism, one is confronted
by the true mastery of image making and artistic prowess. It was
while visiting the Louvre and standing in front of La Grande Odalisque (Jean-Auguste Ingres, 1814) that Muhs began to contemplate
the profundity of the enduring image. As a classically trained artist, Muhs
was drawn to the draftsmanship and deftness of these Masters and was awestruck
by it contributions to, and its negation from, art in the later half of the
20th century.
Thus
inspired, Muhs’ began a quest to truly understand his painting in an artistic,
psychological, and cultural sense. He began to break down his painting into
its basic elements and its relation to the stylized female form. He
studied La Grande Odalisque, her expression
and stature, and how she related to the culture of her time and ours. All
in an effort to distill the magical quality that this work of art has carried
throughout time.
This
led Muhs to a process of deeper study, to the deconstruction and rearrangement
of other iconic images from art history. Via the appropriation of
world-renowned iconic images such as Napoleon
I on his Imperial Throne (after Ingres) and Venus and Cupid (after Pellegrini), his new works carry some of the
inherent power of the originals. Understanding this and combining it with
new artistic elements, Muhs’ has created a contemporary body of work that moves
the audience from a cultural and art historical reference to our present and
societal zeitgeist. Muhs’ new series is empowered by these masterful qualities
and contextualizes his artistic vision for our time.
Born
in Southampton, NY, Jeff Muhs came to art by way of his father, a sculptor and
third generation hunting and fishing guide. Muhs’ rearing along the
barrier beach of Long Island’s south shore instilled in him an intimate
knowledge of nature that would later become an integral part in Muhs’ art
making. Muhs attended and completed his BFA from the School of Visual
Arts in New York City in 1988. Jeff Muhs’ work can be found in several
private and public collections, namely Beth Rudin DeWoody, Guild Hall Museum,
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Ronald Lauder, Cantor Fitzgerald, Time Warner, Inc.,
Los Angeles County Museum, Hunter Museum, and Ward Museum, among others.
His studio is located in Southampton, NY.