Repurposing the Canon
Week of 5.26.25
Hi*ੈ✩‧₊˚
Last week, I was able to attend a few parties in addition to our usual gallery runs. One was a fundraiser gala, and the other was a Rococo-inspired faire la fête for my readers with two tongues. Rococo-inspired party, for my readers with one. It’s great to get back into a groove, and with the warmer weather, I’m expecting a lot more events to pop up. The art calendar should be filling up again with collectives launching, galleries parading, and artists arting.
Here’s all the places I was able to visit last week
Out of the gallery openings I found, Phillip Gerald’s “Art Mystery” at The Hole caught my attention.
Philip Gerald’s “Art Mystery” at The Hole
Philip Gerald (b. 1992, Dublin, Ireland) is a painter based in Dublin.
Gerald’s work is colorful, playful, funny and subverts the most tragic art into a lighthearted joke that those with an inkling of knowledge in art history are in on. The 180° Gerald creates adds layers to iconic works of art and creates a dialog around the complexity of humor and its ability to subvert expectations.
Imagine my shock at seeing the iconic Saturn Devouring His Son rendered in a fluorescent palette. Rather than eating his son, Saturn has him in a loving, albeit awkward, embrace. Both figures have smiles, and the mood is miles away from the inspiration. I’ve seen this work numerous times and discussed it and its artist, Francisco Goya, to an exhausting amount. I’ve never, nor my classmates, thought of spoofing it in a manner that rewrites the mood while keeping its awkward posture.
This is Gerald’s New York solo debut. I interpreted the title, Art Mystery, as the discovery of art history through a visual conversation. I walked in, not knowing anything about Philip Gerald. I walked out, discovering we had a lot in common. We shared knowledge and a visual bank of the works of Matisse, Goya, and Picasso, along with various art movements. Gerald’s visual humor felt like a lively conversation as he explored art education with the viewers.
He describes his process as beginning with a hasty iPad sketch and then bringing the work over to the canvas.
As Gerald states in the press preview:
There’s something funny about these disposable digital drawings taking so long to make as paintings. It started as a joke; I’ve kept going for years.
His method is time intensive as he typically works on larger canvases. I wonder if the chore of explaining a joke is the equivalent of the time spent working on the canvas. Does Gerald laugh while he’s working? I wonder if he still laughs by the end of it.
The work is on view until July 13, 2025.
The Art Student’s League of New York’s Dream Ball 2025 (Le Rêve Rococo)
This was the Art Students League of New York's 3rd revival of Dream Ball. The reminted annual ball was started in the 1920s as a fundraiser for the League's scholarship funds. The ball was revived in 2023, 70 years after the last throwing.
This event was insane. I was wholly underdressed, coming after a twelve-hour shift. I was business casual, and everyone else was dressed to the nines in Rococo-inspired costumes. It was a feast for the eyes, and I devoured. Men had their faces powdered white accompanied with pink rosy cheeks and mouches, an artificial beauty mark used to draw attention and also to hide marks created by syphilis, beautiful and functional. The women were wonderfully accessorized, and some outfits were on theme, and others beautifully reinterpreted Rocco with milkmaid dresses.
Someone created an intricate unicorn head. Overall, it was a grander, more elegant and cohesive Halloween. I've never seen such a large group of people commit to the bit before. Now that I know, I can be in on it for next year. Now that you know, we can coordinate our outfits. Which is about the amount of time we’ll need to prepare a costume. Someone had their suit custom-made in Thailand.
The event was thrown on May 30 2025.
Thanks for reading ✎ (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) ༉‧ ♡*.✧