WILL COTTON
On 19 February 2009 the Mary Boone Gallery will open at its Fifth Avenue location an exhibition of new paintings by WILL COTTON.
In this new series, inspired by the 19th Century American painter Thomas Cole’s epic cycle “The Course of Empire”, Will Cotton’s distinctive sugary landscapes with gingerbread houses – symbols of desire, enticement, and abundance – begin to show a darker side. An ominous fog envelops a ruin in an Alpine valley; the fading light of sunset reflects upon the ice cream cone turrets of a lakeside castle. Perhaps uncomfortably pertinent, there is the sense of a society skeptical of its own passions, encumbered by excess and overconsumption.
The female figures that have in the past luxuriated in Cotton’s landscapes are now absent. They re-appear, however, in works from an ongoing series of portrait studies. With peaks of meringue or hard candy worn as proudly and solemnly as jewels, these women convey status and devotion as persuasively as Renaissance portraiture.
The exhibition, at 745 Fifth Avenue, will be on view through 28 March 2009. Please contact the Gallery if we can be of further assistance, or visit our website: www.maryboonegallery.com.
