In these new works, Wendy White expands her interest in the psychological connection between art and athletics by way of extreme fandom, corporate branding, and the emotional sacrifice of the professional athlete. The title, 12th Man, refers to the fan — the extra "player" who potentially helps determine the fate of the team — and also underscores the gender-specific terminology that pervades sports and society overall.
The exhibition comprises large-scale paintings that fuse inkjet prints and acrylic painting with custom gold frames; hand-shaped, hand-painted rugs; and smaller canvases with gold mirror frames that drip down the wall like melting trophies. A new experience is elicited from iconic sports moments through White’s process of rebranding (often with her own personal brand preferences) and an expressive use of airbrush that simultaneously obscures, reveals and enhances surprising aspects of each figure.
Many of the works in 12th Man deal exclusively with physical sacrifice on the playing field, and how the management of emotional triumphs and setbacks differs relative to gender. White’s female subjects are hereby depicted victoriously. Mo’ne Davis, the 13-year old pitcher from Philadelphia and the first girl to ever pitch a shutout in a Little League World Series, famously made boys cry with her 70 mile per hour fastball. Michele Akers, a.k.a. "The Warrior," played on the US Women’s soccer team through crippling pain to win the coveted Golden Boot and earn a place in the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Brandi Chastain became an unlikely feminist icon when she ceremoniously ripped off her jersey after scoring the winning goal in the 1999 World Cup — revealing her sports bra in what would become an unforgettable, yet somehow scandalous, moment.
Wendy White received her MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts. She has received numerous honors including a New York Foundation for the Arts Painting Grant, the George & Helen Segal Painting Grant, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Award. Her work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art; Kunstverein Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin; Savannah College of Art & Design; The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm; Sotheby’s S|2, New York; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; and Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, among others. Her upcoming exhibitions include The Taguchi Hiroshi Art Collection: A Walk Around the Contemporary Art World After the Paradigm Shift at The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan. There is a feature on the artist and her 12th Man exhibition in the February 2015 issue of Modern Painters. White lives and works in New York, NY.
David Castillo Gallery
420 Lincoln Road
Miami Beach, FL, 33139
305.573.8110
www.davidcastillogallery.com
Be the first to comment