LAUNCHPROJECTS - Art critic Kathryn M Davis joined us today at Clayton Porter's studio for a sneak preview of his upcoming exhibition Deer Hart, Dog Dick. In four new paintings, Porter explores the contemporary grotesque through influences including Gruenwald’s Temptation of Saint Anthony, the stag hunts of Paul de Vos (pictured above), the Baroque allegories of Peter Paul Rubens, and the surrealist imaginings of Max Ernst.
Porter's paintings are grotesque by the original definition of the word (as explored in detail in Robert Storr's 2004 SITE Biennial, Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque). Coined in 1490's Renaissance Rome upon the discovery of Emperor Nero's "grotto" paintings, the grotesque described the excessive and titillating imagery of Nero's cave paintings, "florid caricatures of unnatural man / beast combinations that decorated the long-hidden walls of the grottoes " (Peter Eleey for Frieze Magazine).
Porter's solo exhibition Deer Hart, Dog Dick opens at LAUNCHPROJECTS on Thursday, July 8th from 6:30 - 8:00. Previews of this exhibition have been published in Art in America, the Santa Fean Magazine, and Adobe Airstream.
Special Thanks to James Bristol for his great shot of Clayton's paint palatte (pictured above).
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