AO Art Observed™

Installation view of  “Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 1” (left) and “Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 2,” (right) (both 2006-7), on display at Evan Penny exhibition at Sperone Westwater. Image via Sperone Westwater.

Sperone Westwater will be exhibiting works by South African born, Toronto-based sculptor Evan Penny through February 14th, 2009. Penny is renowned for his sculptures crafted from silicone, hair, aluminum and pigment that are both photorealistic and stretched, skewed and otherwise manipulated beyond the ‘real’ human form.

The sculptor’s newest show features 10 pieces and marks the first time he incorporates time-based photography, introducing time and motion as considerations in his works. Two sculptures, “Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 2″ and “Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 1,” both from 2008, reflect his exploration of these formal elements. The basis of the sculptures are photographs of Penny’s friend Panagiota engaging him in conversation–instead of sculpting a bust based on each individual photograph, they are instead melded and portrayed in a single bust, enabling us to visualize the subject moving through time and space.

This is the artist’s second solo show at Sperone Westwater, who also represents the artist in the United States.  A full color catalogue with an essay by Kenneth Silver, Professor of Modern Art at New York University, accompanies this exhibition.

Exhibition Page : Evan Penny at Sperone Westwater
Press Release : Evan Penny at Sperone Westwater
Gallery Page : Sperone Westwater
Picks: Evan Penny at Sperone Westwater [ArtForum]

Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 1 (2006-7), via Artnet

Penny’s sculptures often play with forced perspectives, anamorphism, stretching and depth, with many of his detailed sculptures appearing to be three dimensional when they are in fact two dimensional. Very few of his recent sculptures are free standing, and are instead wall mounted and presented as busts–a notable exception is “Large Murray” (2008), an almost-full-body version of another sculpture in the exhibition, which is Penny’s first free standing sculpture in several years and depicts a nude man in his 50s with a ponytail.

Self Variation 1 (2008) by Evan Penny, via Sperone Westwater

Self Variation 1 is a photorealistic bust of the sculptor himself, skewed into the shape of a rhomboid. The sculpture’s shape and depiction, while realistic, still does not lend itself to a naturalistic, undistorted perspective, characteristic of much of Penny’s oeuvre.

Back of Danny (in bronze) by Evan Penny, via Sperone Westwater

Installation view of  Evan Penny exhibition at Sperone Westwater. Image via Sperone Westwater.

Installation view of  Evan Penny exhibition at Sperone Westwater. Image via Sperone Westwater.

Installation view of  Evan Penny exhibition at Sperone Westwater. Image via Sperone Westwater.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 10:41 pm and is filed under Go See. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.