Will Cotton’s ‘Alpine Ruin’ via Mary Boone
On view now at Mary Boone Gallery’s Fifth Avenue location is an exhibition of new paintings by Will Cotton. Cotton is known for his photorealistic candyland dreamscapes, often featuring scantily-clad female figures lounging in cotton candy clouds or bathing in chocolate pools. Cotton’s current series is inspired by Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole’s acclaimed ‘The Course of Empire’ series. The human eye-candy disappears from these decadent landscapes, but the exhibition includes a series of portrait studies in the style of Renaissance portraiture with young beautiful women wearing status symbols made of sugar.
Exhibition page [Mary Boone]
Artist’s page
Adam Stennett in conversation with Will Cotton [Whitehot Magazine]
Greg Lindquist in conversation with Will Cotton [artcritical]
Will Cotton’s ‘Ribbon Candy’ via Mary Boone
Cotton creates his paintings by first building maquettes of gingerbread and frosting. For ‘Ribbon Candy,’ a portrait of a woman wearing a ribbon candy headdress seemingly dreamed up by Marie Antoinette’s wig maker, Cotton took a class to learn the technique of making the delicately arched confection. However, he was not able to develop the necessary calluses and so enlisted the services of a French pastry chef.
Will Cotton’s ‘The Consummation of Empire’ via Mary Boone
Will Cotton’s ‘Rose’ via Mary Boone
Will Cotton’s ‘Monument’ via Mary Boone
