Reception for the artist Thursday, April 11, 6-8PM; Exhibition runs through May 25
Michael Brennan has an eye for absurdity and a hand so adept with a brush that his oil paintings are often initially mistaken for photography. Combined with an encyclopedic command of art history, these talents make the implausible palpable, fulfilling his childhood hero Salvador Dali's prescription to "make of surrealism something as solid, complete and classic as the works of museums." Modernism is pleased to present forty-eight of Brennan's brazenly original art historical pastiches in "48 Squared."
Brennan's mixture of high and pop culture has important antecedents in Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, as well as Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, all of whom find their way into his all-consuming compositions. For example, one of Johns' targets frames the famous scene in Georges Melies' "Trip to the Moon" where the Man in the Moon is shot in the eye with a bullet-shaped rocket. Lichtenstein also makes several appearances; Brennan overlays scenes from San Francisco with his brushstrokes like a postmodern graffiti artist.
Brennan is fearless with his references, gamely taking on the challenge of repainting Monet's "Water Lilies" and iconic portraits of Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh. In "Obscura," Jan Vermeer's "Girl with a Red Hat" is casually set inside a Mondrian grid, evoking their shared interest in the camera obscura and the relationship between optical devices and the gridded picture plane.
Brennan appears to make fun of his own precociousness in "Mona Lisa Smile," a portrait of the TV personality Bob Ross painting "La Gioconda." But the painting also communicates a deeper conviction. "Art is a level playing field," he says. "Anyone can paint anything."
In his own case, painting anything means painting everything, but always with an attitude uniquely his own. "The art world takes itself way too seriously," he explains. "A lot of artwork is tongue-in-cheek, but people don't realize it. I just want mine to be a little more obvious."
Free
Presented by MODERNISM INC..
show less
Michael Brennan has an eye for absurdity and a hand so adept with a brush that his oil paintings are often initially mistaken for photography. Combined with an encyclopedic command of art history, these talents make the implausible palpable, fulfilling his childhood hero Salvador Dali's prescription to "make of surrealism something as solid, complete and classic as the works of museums." Modernism is pleased to present forty-eight of Brennan's brazenly original art historical pastiches in "48 Squared."
Brennan's mixture of high and pop culture has important antecedents in Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, as well as Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, all of whom find their way into his all-consuming compositions. For example, one of Johns' targets frames the famous scene in Georges Melies' "Trip to the Moon" where the Man in the Moon is shot in the eye with a bullet-shaped rocket. Lichtenstein also makes several appearances; Brennan overlays scenes from San Francisco with his brushstrokes like a postmodern graffiti artist.
Brennan is fearless with his references, gamely taking on the challenge of repainting Monet's "Water Lilies" and iconic portraits of Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh. In "Obscura," Jan Vermeer's "Girl with a Red Hat" is casually set inside a Mondrian grid, evoking their shared interest in the camera obscura and the relationship between optical devices and the gridded picture plane.
Brennan appears to make fun of his own precociousness in "Mona Lisa Smile," a portrait of the TV personality Bob Ross painting "La Gioconda." But the painting also communicates a deeper conviction. "Art is a level playing field," he says. "Anyone can paint anything."
In his own case, painting anything means painting everything, but always with an attitude uniquely his own. "The art world takes itself way too seriously," he explains. "A lot of artwork is tongue-in-cheek, but people don't realize it. I just want mine to be a little more obvious."
Free
Presented by MODERNISM INC..
Reception for the artist Thursday, April 11, 6-8PM; Exhibition runs through May 25
Michael Brennan has an eye for absurdity and a hand so adept with a brush that his oil paintings are often initially mistaken for photography. Combined with an encyclopedic command of art history, these talents make the implausible palpable, fulfilling his childhood hero Salvador Dali's prescription to "make of surrealism something as solid, complete and classic as the works of museums." Modernism is pleased to present forty-eight of Brennan's brazenly original art historical pastiches in "48 Squared."
Brennan's mixture of high and pop culture has important antecedents in Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, as well as Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, all of whom find their way into his all-consuming compositions. For example, one of Johns' targets frames the famous scene in Georges Melies' "Trip to the Moon" where the Man in the Moon is shot in the eye with a bullet-shaped rocket. Lichtenstein also makes several appearances; Brennan overlays scenes from San Francisco with his brushstrokes like a postmodern graffiti artist.
Brennan is fearless with his references, gamely taking on the challenge of repainting Monet's "Water Lilies" and iconic portraits of Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh. In "Obscura," Jan Vermeer's "Girl with a Red Hat" is casually set inside a Mondrian grid, evoking their shared interest in the camera obscura and the relationship between optical devices and the gridded picture plane.
Brennan appears to make fun of his own precociousness in "Mona Lisa Smile," a portrait of the TV personality Bob Ross painting "La Gioconda." But the painting also communicates a deeper conviction. "Art is a level playing field," he says. "Anyone can paint anything."
In his own case, painting anything means painting everything, but always with an attitude uniquely his own. "The art world takes itself way too seriously," he explains. "A lot of artwork is tongue-in-cheek, but people don't realize it. I just want mine to be a little more obvious."
Free
Presented by MODERNISM INC..
read more
Michael Brennan has an eye for absurdity and a hand so adept with a brush that his oil paintings are often initially mistaken for photography. Combined with an encyclopedic command of art history, these talents make the implausible palpable, fulfilling his childhood hero Salvador Dali's prescription to "make of surrealism something as solid, complete and classic as the works of museums." Modernism is pleased to present forty-eight of Brennan's brazenly original art historical pastiches in "48 Squared."
Brennan's mixture of high and pop culture has important antecedents in Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, as well as Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, all of whom find their way into his all-consuming compositions. For example, one of Johns' targets frames the famous scene in Georges Melies' "Trip to the Moon" where the Man in the Moon is shot in the eye with a bullet-shaped rocket. Lichtenstein also makes several appearances; Brennan overlays scenes from San Francisco with his brushstrokes like a postmodern graffiti artist.
Brennan is fearless with his references, gamely taking on the challenge of repainting Monet's "Water Lilies" and iconic portraits of Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh. In "Obscura," Jan Vermeer's "Girl with a Red Hat" is casually set inside a Mondrian grid, evoking their shared interest in the camera obscura and the relationship between optical devices and the gridded picture plane.
Brennan appears to make fun of his own precociousness in "Mona Lisa Smile," a portrait of the TV personality Bob Ross painting "La Gioconda." But the painting also communicates a deeper conviction. "Art is a level playing field," he says. "Anyone can paint anything."
In his own case, painting anything means painting everything, but always with an attitude uniquely his own. "The art world takes itself way too seriously," he explains. "A lot of artwork is tongue-in-cheek, but people don't realize it. I just want mine to be a little more obvious."
Free
Presented by MODERNISM INC..
show less
Date/Times:
724 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94121
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