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ARTCAT



James Rieck, Flower Girls

Lyons Wier Gallery
175 Seventh Avenue, at 20th Street, 212-242-6220
Chelsea
February 9 - March 9, 2006
Reception: Thursday, February 9, 6 - 8 PM
Web Site


For the past few years James Rieck’s imagery has been distilled from the 1950s and ‘60s retail advertisements or photographs that have a consumer agenda of selling (ideas, people or things). This current body of work, although from current advertisements, carries the same emotive temperance and moderation that most contemporary ads have long since abandoned.

At first glance the paintings may appear to be attractive depictions of banality. But upon closer scrutiny, the work reveals a deviant undertone inherent in the restrained environment (the right hand restrains the left), and the paintings become a bit fetishistic. This is amplified through scale, deliberate cropping, and self-controlled rendering.

By extreme cropping and altering the scale of the images, the Flower Girls transform from symbols of innocents, purity (virgins), and goodness to a more disquieting narrative.

Rieck received his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Mount Royal School of Art in 2003 and BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 1987.

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