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WOLFE VON LENKIEWICZ & PABLO PICASSO
DELIRIOUS PICASSO
House of the Nobleman presents DELIRIOUS PICASSO
in collaboration with Mark Sanders Art Consultancy.
The exhibition features new paintings by Wolfe von
Lenkiewicz alongside a selection of works by Pablo Picasso.
May 12–17
10:00a.m. to 8:00p.m.
Academy Mansion
2 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10065
RSVP Essential:
visit@houseofthenobleman.com
Press lunch: Monday, May 11
12:30p.m. to 2:30p.m.
At the heart of DELIRIOUS PICASSO is British artist Wolfe von Lenkiewicz, with his
debut exhibition in New York City. In his latest series of oil paintings, von Lenkiewicz
juxtaposes Picasso’s oeuvre with ukiyo-e, a Japanese genre of woodblock prints
and paintings, to explore the harmony between Eastern and Western artistic
traditions. Synthesizing restraint and grandeur, the artist combines flat perspective
with sumptuous colour and use of pattern as exemplified in ukiyo-e. He reinterprets
the work of both the 19th-century Japanese painter Kikugawa Eizan and Picasso,
taking particular inspiration from the spontaneity and vitality of the latter.
Von Lenkiewicz’s presentation comprises two distinct series of works entitled The
Guards of the Void and The Giants. The grand reconfigured paintings combine
Picasso motifs with courtesan and samurai figures to form a potent new visual
language. This provocative iconoclastic act liberates the borrowed paintings from
their cultural mythos, reinvigorating the icons into bold enigmatic prototypes.
Von Lenkiewicz’s deft handling of these seemingly disparate aesthetics form an
arresting series of paintings that, in dialogue with the works of Picasso, demonstrate
the reconcilable nature of Eastern and Western artistic practices.
NOTES TO THE EDITOR
DELIRIOUS PICASSO refers to the manifesto Delirious New York written by Dutch
architect Rem Koolhaas (1978). A celebration and analysis of New York City, the
book refers to Manhattan as “the 20th century’s Rosetta Stone” and portrays the
city as a laboratory for the invention and testing of a metropolitan lifestyle.
Built in 1921 by William Ziegler Jr., the magnificent Academy Mansion mirrors the
themes in DELIRIOUS PICASSO, borrowing tenets of Japanese architecture, such
as a central courtyard, while typifying the aesthetics of Upper East Side affluence.
ABOUT WOLFE VON LENKIEWICZ
Wolfe von Lenkiewicz (b.1966) is based in London. He graduated from the
University of York with a degree in Philosophy, specializing in Contemporary
Epistemology, which has influenced and guided the conceptual side of his
practice. Von Lenkiewicz’s chief artistic concern is our use of language and its
re-interpretation in the form of visual art. He is known for his reconfigurations
of iconic imageries from visual culture. Through controversial interventions, his
ambiguous compositions illustrate our own complacency towards famous images,
and raise critical questions about those canonic works of art.
Von Lenkiewicz has exhibited at the Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille, Me Collectors
Room (Berlin), La Maison Rouge (Paris), and is currently showing at the
Deichtorhallen Museum (Hamburg) in PICASSO IN CONTEMPORARY ART, a largescale group exhibition featuring more than 90 artists referencing Picasso in their
work. His work is featured in numerous international collections.
ABOUT HOUSE OF THE NOBLEMAN
House of the Nobleman is a multi-faceted organization comprising art advisory,
curatorial practice and private dealership. Its work ranges from large-scale
curatorial projects and events, to art and design sourcing and the nurturing of
artistic talent.
Founded in London by Victoria Golembiovskaya in 2010, House of the
Nobleman believes passionately in the transformative power of the arts.
It creates bespoke environments, responding to the unique architecture of
each building it inhabits. Through collaboration with experts in the fields of art
history, its dramatic exhibitions celebrate art from both past and present.
DELIRIOUS PICASSO, organised by Victoria Golembiovskaya and Anastasiya
Siro, represents House of the Nobleman’s most significant US project to date.
.
ABOUT MARK SANDERS ART CONSULTANCY
Mark Sanders Art Consultancy Ltd was formed in 2008 by the curator and art
writer Mark Sanders. Formerly the Director of All Visual Arts in London and
acting Director for RS&A Ltd, he has staged a number of important international
travelling shows including, The Art of Chess (featuring new sculptural commissions
by Damien Hirst, Paul McCarthy, Yayoi Kusama and Maurizio Cattelan), as well as
critically acclaimed group shows in London. He is also the advisor to The Arpad A.
Busson Foundation and editor on numerous publications for Phaidon Press, Steidl
and Hatje Cantz, including a new monograph on the work of Wolfe von Lenkiewicz
due to be published in June 2015.
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