Go See – New York: The Figure and Dr. Freud at Haunch of Venison, featuring JONATHAN MEESE, GEORGE CONDO, CECILY BROWN, ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, ALICE NEEL, FRANCIS BACON, DIANE ARBUS, WILLEM DE KOONING, PICASSO AND MORE. Through August 22, 2009

August 11th, 2009


Jonathan Meese, “mutter mit roter Brille und roetlicher Perlenkette,” part of “The Figure and Dr. Freud,” a group exhibition on at Haunch of Venison New York.

Haunch of Venison’s New York branch is showing “The Figure and Dr. Freud,” a group exhibition by 31 artists from the last century.  These include past and currently producing artists, from the sculptor Alberto Giacometti to the painter Daniel Richter.  The show, which closes on August 22, focuses on the human figure as the artists have rendered it, through the lenses of the late Dr. Freud’s psychoanalytic theories.

Related links:
Haunch of Venison
Sigmund Freud [freudfile]


David Salle, “With All Due Respect Sir, We Need Modesty Blaise,” at Haunch of Venison.

More images and story after the jump…

Born Sigismund Schlomo Freud to a Moravian Jewish family in 1856, Sigmund Freud is widely recognized as the father of psychoanalysis.  Per the gallery, “Freud’s principles of Psychoanalysis created a language to explore the subconscious and sexual desire, which was believed to be the critical part of human motivation.”  The exhibit, accordingly, features many sexually charged works, but as a means to address the dialogue between artist and subject, product, and process.  Richard Butler, who has two works in “The Figure and Dr. Freud,” has a mix- and discolored figure that blends into similarly mix-/discolored surroundings.  Meanwhile, relative newcomer Patricia Paccinini’s installation, also pictured below, follows closely the Freudian idea of Id as a manifestation of every person’s basic, animal desires.  Her work has a woman’s face obscured by a rodent, whose body language her arms and stance mimic.


Tom Wesselmann, “Sunset Nude (1960 July),” in “The Figure and Dr. Freud” at Haunch of Venison New York.


Richard Butler at Haunch of Venison, via COSMAS.


Above and below, Patricia Piccinini at Haunch of Venison. Via COSMAS.

Other artists, including John Currin and Nobuyoshi Araki, show nudes, though Araki’s female nude is juxtaposed with its adjoining Tokyo backdrop — a subject and its context.  David Salle puts an ironic spin on the nude, de-sexualizing and avoiding it.  Other artists included in the exhibition are Alice Neel; Brian Alfred; Cecily Brown; Chuck Close; David Levinthal; Diane Arbus; Francis Bacon; Francis Picabia; George Condo; George Segal; James Rosenquist; Kevin Francis Gray; Martin Eder; Mel Ramos; Naoto Kawahara; Pablo Picasso; Tony Matelli; Wangechi Mutu; Jonathan Meese; Tom Wesselmann; and Willem de Kooning.


John Currin, “Bea Arthur Nude,” at Haunch of Venison.


Nobuyoshi Araki, “Tokoyo Nude (5),” at Haunch of Venison.


Dr. Sigmund Freud, via NYCgalleries.

– R. Fogel