Exhibition of recent paintings by Archie Rand opens at TOTAH
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Monday, October 14, 2024


Exhibition of recent paintings by Archie Rand opens at TOTAH
Archie Rand, Jeremiah (detail), 2020. Acrylic on fabric, 42 × 38 inches (106.5 × 96.5 cm).



NEW YORK, NY.- TOTAH presents Sweet Sixteen, featuring new paintings by Archie Rand, on view from July 14 through August 21, 2021. This is Rand’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.

The recent paintings of Archie Rand communicate an alternative history. The materiality of acrylic paint on canvas serves as the substrate for erotic hallucinations, equal parts grandiose and modest, playful and austere. Just like the carefully balanced, otherworldly vistas he depicts, the viewer is invited to linger on each painting and insert his or her own narrative into the images presented there. Titled after the prophets of the Old Testament, the paintings included in Sweet Sixteen could be considered openended tableaux. The overt sexuality depicted in each work functions like a scrim through which more subtle visual relationships draw the viewer's attention.




Despite their narrative intent, Rand’s pictures never suggest a before or an after. Instead, since every figure or scene coexists with very different figures and scenes, the viewer asks what these parts of a painting might mean. In a work like Jeremiah, for instance, the man with an erection in the painting’s foreground is either content or, less convincingly, form. Figuration touches on symbolism without being inherently symbolic. A hunchback holding a lantern, a dreamcatcher designed like a moon, a woman whose face seems to come from another painting entirely: the totality of these figurative elements, when condensed into the space of a picture, take on potentially symbolic values.

The directness of Rand’s work forms a stark contrast to their sexual suggestiveness. However concrete, wilding and explicit his figures might appear, they radiate an aura of innocence. The exactitude of their portrayal reverses back on itself, lending all 16 paintings an indefinite meaning despite the clarity of what they represent. Giving off the storied impression of a dream, the imagery Rand puts to use conveys a multitude of meanings where the mores of social propriety are disabused of their common, utilitarian purpose.

Archie Rand (born 1949) has occupied noteworthy space in the abstract, color-field, representational, and symbolist landscapes over the course of his more than fifty-year career. He first exhibited in 1966 at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York after having attended the Art Students League and later received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in cinegraphics from Pratt Institute. He continues to collaborate and publish with poets such as Robert Creeley, John Ashbery, and Anne Waldman. Rand is currently Presidential Professor of Art at Brooklyn College, having previously been chair of the Department of Visual Arts at Columbia University. Rand’s work has been the subject of retrospectives at venues ranging from the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center to the Museo Palazzo Ducale of Genoa. Public collections include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian Institution, The Brooklyn Museum, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Bibliotheque Nationale de France, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and numerous university archives.










Today's News

July 15, 2021

Newfound sections 'prove' ancient wall protected Jerusalem's east flank

Jeff Bezos gives $200 million to National Air and Space Museum

New exhibition presents major works on paper from the Hessel Collection

Genius at work: 29 MacArthur fellows show their art in Chicago

Exhibition of recent paintings by Archie Rand opens at TOTAH

Phillips Asia announces 24/7 Online Auction

What does it take to be like Mike? 1,264 ticket stubs.

Jane Kaufman, artist who celebrated women's work, dies at 83

For Keioui Keijaun Thomas, the body becomes a vessel

The fate of the Met Opera's fall season lies in its orchestra pit

Rare and elegant 1965 Iso Rivolta to be offered at Ivoire Troyes

Mariët Westermann appointed to Rijksmuseum Supervisory Board

Buddhist digital amulets mark Thai entry into crypto art craze

Car crash? Sexy French horror flick rattles Cannes

After virus closures, Shakespeare returns... outside

Grounds For Sculpture announces new leadership appointments

Charlie Robinson, actor best known for 'Night Court,' dies at 75

Single-owner collection of oil and petroliana will be auctioned online

Paul Huntley, hair master of Broadway and Hollywood, is dead at 88

Cannes: Anatomy of a standing ovation for 'The French Dispatch'

Murano chandeliers, Tiffany & Co. period jewels and a Henrietta Berk painting offered at Michaan's

Intersect Aspen announces details of August 1-5 pop-up art fair

Kristen Richards, 69, dies; Reshaped architecture journalism online

Bernette Ford, who made children's books more diverse, dies at 70

Online gaming in Australia: business features




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful