NEW YORK, NY.- Benrimon Contemporary launched its New York City exhibition and gallery space at 514 West 24th Street with its inaugural show Roy Lichtenstein: Homage to Monet. The exhibition presents paintings and multiples that turned the 2,000 square foot gallery overlooking 24th street into a vivid discussion between Monet and Lichtenstein.
The exhibit features numerous Lichtenstein artworks that show reverence to Claude Monet such as the Cathedral and Haystack series as well as the Water Lilies series, which consists of 6 different, innovative multiples that were made in small editions on stainless steel. In these series, Lichtenstein expands upon his tradition of taking recognizable imagery and transforming it into Pop Art. With this progression, he suggests that the work of Monet is as iconographic as a Mickey Mouse cartoon; another entry in our cultural vocabulary of images. Lichtenstein employs his trademark use of color and form to rework Monet’s legendary paintings, as well as our perceptions.
Lichtenstein’s Water Lilies series reflects not only inventive artistry, but also a culminating point in the artist’s development. Inspired by Monet’s Nympheas, Lichtenstein absorbed and appropriated his predecessor’s work, but with modern admiration and interpretation. Monet’s series was groundbreaking in its emphasis on abstraction, comprehension of light, and its rejection of illusionary perspective. Lichtenstein moves beyond Monet’s lessons thoughtfully using reflective forms, Pop imagery, and careful composition to further a dialogue about abstraction and pictorial space. Lichtenstein used the Pop generation’s message aimed at exploiting contemporary society and portrayed Monet’s reflections in a new way. He allows a simplistic rendering of nature in the figures on the mirror, but nature is sublimated to Pop culture’s obsession with self, as indicated by the reflecting mirror behind the portrayals of nature; the contemporary viewer can see themselves behind the natural scene. Visually satisfying and optically exciting, these pieces employ color, light, pattern, and reflection to make complex and changing spaces.
Benrimon Contemporary will present solo and group shows of established Contemporary and Modern artists. The gallery will carefully curate shows that present innovative ways to explain the continuum of Modern to Contemporary art. Benrimon Contemporary will market and sell important paintings and sculptures by Modern, Post-war, Contemporary and emerging artists to some of the world’s most prestigious clients while cultivating the new generation of soon-to-be prestigious collectors. The gallery will provide acquisition, management, and consulting services with integrity and professionalism.
