Contemporary Art: Walton Ford´s Majestic Lions @ Kasmin New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Contemporary art is full of surprises. On our last visit of Manhattan´s art district Chelsea my wife and I happened to see an interesting art reception.  Gallery Kasmin opened their new flagship space with an exhibition of new paintings by Walton Ford (509 West 27th Street kasmingallery). The American artist is famous for his naturalist paintings. Wikipedia writes: "Each of his paintings is a meticulous, realistic study in flora and fauna, and is filled with symbols, clues, and jokes referencing texts ranging from colonial literature, to folktales, to travel guides" (wikipedia).

 

The new show focuses on Barbary Lions and is called "Barbary" (through December 22, 2018    exhibition). These majestic cats are dangerous & powerful but also beautiful. The press release explains: "The series is a result of over eighteen years of research by Ford into the iconic Barbary lion. This subspecies—the subject of a long, ongoing cultural fascination—historically ranged across the Atlas Mountains of North Africa, but has been extinct in the wild since the early 20th century after over 2000 years of persecution. The Barbary lion is the lion of the Roman amphitheater, the lion painted by Delacroix, and the lion that roars for the Hollywood film studio MGM".

Being an ambitious amateur photographer I took some picture from the show and the lions.  This post opens with Fords`s "Leipzig 20 Oktober 1913" (2018, watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper, 60 1/8 x 119 1/4 inches, 152.7 x 302.9 cm). The large painting refers to an incident in the Eastern German city Leibzig in 1913 when nine lions had escaped from the zoo which started a frantic lion hunt.

 

The audience was as interesting as the big cats. These people are admiring images tagged M V N E R, which relates to the gladiator fights in Rome´s Colosseum where these Barbary Lions where involved.

 

Apparently another reference to history.

 

Above a detail shot.

 

To be continued