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Look at Me: Portraiture from Manet to the Present

May 8 – August 14, 2014

NIR HOD

Self Portrait as a Genius, 2011
Oil on canvas
24 x 17 in / 61 x 43.2 cm
Courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York

 

ANH DUONG, Trou de memoire (Lost memories), 2011

ANH DUONG

Trou de memoire (Lost memories), 2011

Oil on canvas

72 x 48 in / 182.88 X 121.92 cm

Courtesy Sonnabend Gallery, New York

TANER CEYLAN, Esma Sultan (The Lost Paintings Series), 2012

TANER CEYLAN

Esma Sultan (The Lost Paintings Series), 2012

Oil on canvas
70.9 x 67 in / 180 x 170 cm
Courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York 

SHOJA AZARI & SHAHRAM KARIMI, FORSAKEN: Portrait of an American Rural Family, 2013

SHOJA AZARI & SHAHRAM KARIMI

FORSAKEN: Portrait of an American Rural Family, 2013

Acrylic on canvas with video projection

Four panels, 16 x 21 in / 40.6 x 53.3 cm each

SHOJA AZARI,  

SHOJA AZARI

 

Toil: Or Blind Fate, 2014

Archival inkjet print
40.5 x 54 in / 102.9 x 137.2 cm 

MARIA KREYN, Power Play I, 2014

MARIA KREYN

Power Play I, 2014

Led-backlit etching on resin-coated Plexiglas

36 x 24 in / 91.4 x 61 cm

NEGAR AHKAMI,  

NEGAR AHKAMI

 

Ornament (Look at Me! Don’t Look at Me! series), 2014

Mixed Media on Styrofoam
6 in / 15.2 cm diameter 

VALÉRIE BELIN, Amazon Lily (with Garden Roses), 2010

VALÉRIE BELIN

Amazon Lily (with Garden Roses), 2010

Pigment print

64.1 x 51 in / 162.8 x 129.5 cm

Edition of 3, 2 AP's

Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York

MICHAEL WATSON,  

MICHAEL WATSON

 

Son of Adam II, 2011

Oil on canvas

55 x 40 in / 139.7 x 101.6 cm 

FRANCESCO CLEMENTE, Rachel Feinstein, 2007

FRANCESCO CLEMENTE

Rachel Feinstein, 2007

Oil on canvas

60 x 30.3 in / 152.4 x 76.8 cm

Courtesy Mary Boone Gallery, New York

IKÉ UDÉ, Sartorial Anarchy #31, 2013

IKÉ UDÉ

Sartorial Anarchy #31, 2013

Pigment on Satin Paper

45.7 x 36.5 in / 116.1 x 92.71 cm

Edition of 5, 3 AP

_____________________________________________

HAIR STYLE: Pharaoh Ramses II hairstyle, 1279-1213

BC STOOL: Vintage Bar-stool, United States, circa 1960s/70s

STATUE: Ancient Egypt, the Head of a Statue of Amenhotep III (1388-1348 BC) Re-Carved for Ramses II

BOWTIE: Made from vintage seersucker, American, 2013

LAPEL PIN: Vintage green lacquered millinery fruit bunch, made in Japan, circa 1960s-1980s

SHIRT: French, 2011

JACKET: Velvet jacket, England, 1970s

TROUSERS: Yoruba, Nigeria, 1940s-1970s

SOCKS: France, 2004

SHOES: Vintage men‚ black and white Saddle shoe, Golf shoes, circa 1950s/1990s, United States

MUSIC INSTRUMENT: Bass Cornnamuse, Renaissance/16th century; reproduction, Gunter Korber, Berlin, stamped Gunter Korber, 1990s

VASE: Royal Crown Derby Enameled vase, 1891-1921, England

FURNITURE: 19th century Louis XV Bronze Mounted Kindwood Commode, France

Press Release

Leila Heller Gallery is pleased to announce a major expansion with the opening of its second New York City gallery at 43 West 57th Street, a sixth-floor gallery space that is amongst the largest in New York.

 

The Leila Heller Gallery 57th Street is an 18,000 square foot space, with unique multi-dimensional capability, including a 60-seat theater/auditorium and a full floor project space for the purpose of showcasing exhibitions by emerging artists and curators.

 

The new gallery is debuting with an exciting inaugural exhibition entitled Look at Me: Portraiture from Manet to the Present. This expansive exhibition spans almost two centuries with over 200 artworks by 170 artists.

 

Beyond the inaugural exhibition, the new space will be devoted to an expanding contemporary artists program and will leverage the Gallery’s longstanding expertise with private sales of Modern and Contemporary Masters to mount exhibitions of historical interest. The exhibition program will include solo exhibitions, curated exhibitions, and survey shows focusing on broader art movements and themes.

 

In addition to 57th Street’s sheer size, the Gallery is a multidimensional and versatile space. The theater / auditorium space will present films and video art installations as well as host speaking engagements and panel discussions of cultural interest. The Gallery will also invite outside cultural organizations to use the auditorium for complementary activities. The project space offers a truly unique platform. In addition, the new space will house the Gallery’s extensive library and expansive private viewing spaces and offices.

 

The West 25th Street location in Chelsea will remain dedicated to fostering the careers of emerging and mid-career artists, whose works will be presented selectively at 57th Street in a deeper art historical context via exhibitions mounted alongside concurrent shows of well established Modern and Contemporary artists.

 

 

Historical Survey of Portraiture

 

The inaugural exhibition, Look at Me: Portraiture from Manet to the Present, spans a vast historical period of 150+ years from Manet to the present, and explores perhaps the broadest and most practiced genre in art history. Throughout time, mankind’s preoccupation with the self - one’s appearance, perception and ultimate identity - has influenced artists to create, and individuals to commissions, portraits. Portraits have been an indispensable way of communicating identity, with real as well as symbolic meaning for centuries of art audiences. Look At Me celebrates and explores portraiture in recent history and investigate how artists today are engaging with the broad spectrum of descriptive strategies.

 

The ambitious exhibition includes works by many renowned artists, including: PierreEAuguste Renoir, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol, JeanEMichel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Tom Wesselmann, Francesco Clemente, Eric Fischl, Mitra Tabrizian, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Firooz Zahedi, Jack Pierson, John Currin, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, George Condo, Loretta Lux, Marilyn Minter, Ai Wei Wei, Youssef Nabil, Iké Udé, Farideh Lashai, Shoja Azari, Rachel Lee Hovnanian, Josh Azzarella, Reza Aramesh.

 

The exhibition includes many seminal works, including Warhol’s “Blue Jackie,” “Bill” by Elaine de Kooning and “Peintre et son Modele” by Picasso.

 

Look at Me: Portraiture from Manet to the Present is curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, collector and art institution trustee, and Paul Morris, a founding Director of the Armory Show, who is advising the Gallery as an ongoing curatorial consultant. The exhibition has been installed across both Leila Heller Gallery locations. The exhibition opens to the public on Wednesday, May 7 at 43 West 57th Street and on Thursday, May 8 at 568 West 25th Street and runs through August.