Sherrie LevineAbstraction

The Arts Club of Chicago is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition of work by American artist Sherrie Levine. The first artist to use appropriation in the late 1970s, Levine became known for her reproductions of images from existing artwork. The reproduced images displace the importance and re-contextualize the originals, giving them a new life and meaning. The term “image appropriation” was later adopted by a group of artists who worked in a similar manner. She also creates sculptures, photographs, or paintings based on images immediately recognizable from other artists work, or mimics an artistic practice, such as Duchamp’s readymades. Other artists Levine has appropriated, either photographically or sculpturally, are Walker Evans, Henri Matisse, and Claude Monet.

The impetus behind this exhibition is the abstract work of Georgia O’Keeffe and the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz, who were both important promoters of modernism and abstraction. In The Arts Club exhibit there are 12 highly polished bronze antelope skulls, 18 black and white pixilated photographs, and two series of plywood knot paintings, six large works with pink painted knots and 12 smaller works with pale green-white painted knots. The skulls are a direct manifestation of O’Keeffe’s abstract paintings of animal skulls and the photographs are an abstract representation of Stieglitz’s cloud images. Levine’s knot paintings reflect O’Keeffe’s many female flower paintings in both form and color.

Levine’s work and manner of working confront the notion of authorship and authenticity. She continues the exploration of modernism, both as a movement and a concept, and the art world’s obsession with originality and the commodification of art.

The exhibition was organized in conjunction with the artist and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it will be on view from 26 January through 13 May 2007. A catalogue is available for purchase at The Arts Club.

Levine was born in Hazelton, PA in 1947. She earned her B.F.A. (1969) and M.F.A. (1973) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe and is represented by the Paula Cooper Gallery, NY. She lives in Santa Fe, NM and New York, NY.