Skarstedt opens new London gallery with Cindy Sherman and David Salle exhibition

Date
7 October 2016

Skarstedt’s new London gallery at 8 Bennet Street has opened with an exhibition bringing Cindy Sherman’s History Portraits alongside David Salle’s Tapestry Paintings. Both integral figures in the New York Pictures Generation movement of the 70s and 80s, there are obvious parallels between the work of the two artists.

David Salle’s Tapestry Paintings imitate 16th and 17th Century Italian and Dutch genre styles, creating many-layered, visually chaotic images. Likewise for History Paintings, Cindy took inspiration from noble historical paintings — Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, neo-Classical — and portraits by Raphael, Caravaggio, Ingres and Rubens to create theatrical self-portraits which probe the role of the woman in art. By using props and prosthetics such as masks, wigs and over-the-top body parts, Cindy calls out the characters she creates as artificial constructs.

“Positioning these bodies of work in dialogue, the exhibition explores the shared visual strategies and the performative aspects intrinsic to the artists’ work,” the gallery explains. “Created during the same period, the History Portraits and Tapestry Paintings invite us to reflect on the coincidence of the artists’ shared translation of historical sources at this particular moment of contemporary art history and to contemplate the role played by their chosen mediums of painting and photography.”

Cindy Sherman & David Salle: History Portraits & Tapestry Paintings is at Skarstedt, London, from 1 Oct – 26 November

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Cindy Sherman: Untitled #203, 1989

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Cindy Sherman: Untitled #205, 1989

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Cindy Sherman: Untitled #206, 1989

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Cindy Sherman: Untitled #216, 1989

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Cindy Sherman: Untitled #213, 1989

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David Salle

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David Salle

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David Salle

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David Salle

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About the Author

Bryony Stone

Bryony joined It's Nice That as Deputy Editor in August 2016, following roles at Mother, Secret Cinema, LAW, Rollacoaster and Wonderland. She later became Acting Editor at It's Nice That, before leaving in late 2018.

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