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Post by Fuggle on Mar 10, 2006 18:10:02 GMT -5
Eye Candy18th Century British PaintingCan one artist take on an entire century? Joe E. Stewart not only tries it in his new show, titled plainly (er, hubristically?) "Eighteenth Century British Painting," but he also throws the 19th and 20th centuries in for good measure. Stewart's paintings and drawings appear to be pushing for a frantic, aggressive re-encounter with the cultural past; his commitment to the 18th century as a sort of key to all postmodern mythologies occasionally takes on the tenor of a madman's ravings. To Stewart, Sid Vicious must replace Gainsborough's family in the latter's Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter: perhaps because Vicious seems the ideal 18th-century rake; perhaps because Gainsborough's occasional roughness acts as a precursor to punk; perhaps because Gainsborough's death from cancer reminds Stewart of Vicious' final junkie paroxysms. Whatever the reason, Stewart's work offers up labyrinths within labyrinths, and anyone with even a remote interest in art, literary or musical history will find much to be both dazzled and frazzled by here. JOE E STEWART'S "18TH CENTURY BRITISH PAINTING" RUNS TO MARCH 12. LE-GALLERY, 1183 DUNDAS W. 416-532-8467.
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