NEW YORK.- Marrying the hyperrealist tradition of Duane Hanson and Andy Warhol’s prophetic approach to pop culture, Marco Perego unveils his most ambitious set piece to date, a sculpture of William Burroughs murdering Amy Winehouse entitled, “The Only Good Rock Star is a Dead Rock Star.” Perhaps only Maurizio Cattelan – another curious Italian— or Damien Hirst could come close to producing an artwork as macabre as it is hilarious. Perego’s installation speaks concurrently to the steep price of fame and an infamous literary game gone deadly, creating a provocative situation that while historically impossible is visually plausible through-and-through. The Minnie Mouse mask next to her lifeless body is not just a nod to Disney, but a reference to the infamous Amy Wine-mouse video of her partying with Pete Doherty. Perego challenges the viewer to abandon our antiquated notions of chronology and reinvent a timeline to match the projected calculus of our imagination. A series of drawings (some studies, some indirectly related) further explore the linkage between sex and violence, borrowing from childhood memories of chivalry, innocence and romance.

All images are included in the forthcoming Marco Perego monograph to be published by tarSIZ. The book features an essay by noted dealer John McWhinnie and French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, as well as a conversation with the artist himself.