Sherrie Levine: New Works
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
13 November - 21 December 1996
The Margo Leavin Gallery presents an exhibition of recent works by Sherrie Levine. The exhibition, which marks Levine’s second one-person show at Margo Leavin Gallery, includes sculpture and works on paper.
Sherrie Levine’s work has consistently questioned the notions of authorship and originality in the production of art. Taking from the concepts developed by Marcel Duchamp, who used found and “ready-made” objects, Sherrie Levine uses repetition and appropriation of signature works of modern art and design to create a sense of ambiguity within her work and her role as an artist. Sherrie Levine’s images are recognizable and already known, having been re-cast, re-photographed, re-painted, or re-drawn. In her work using the ready-made, Sherrie Levine lifts a found object from its original context and transfers it to one of her own construct.
This exhibition includes a series of bronze castings after Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 porcelain urinal ready-made, Fountain. Sherrie Levine’s work, titled Buddha, was cast from a urinal very similar to Duchamp’s original ready-made. By presenting this work in a series of six, Sherrie Levine focuses on the serial nature and repetition inherent to Duchamp’s concept of the ready-made.
Also included are six wood sculptures after a 1934 side table by seminal modernist architect and designer, Gerrit Reitveld. Titled Small Krate Table, Sherrie Levine’s sculpture increases by 50% the scale of Reitveld’s side table—one of the first pieces of furniture sold as kit to be assembled by the buyer—highlighting its sculptural form.
In addition, the exhibition is included a group of ready-mades titled Chimera: After a Broken Leg. The reference to titles of works by Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp alludes to the mask-like appearance of these works, which consist of plywood leg splints designed by Charles Eames in 1941 for use by the U.S. Navy. The last body of work in the exhibition is nine Iris print images after Claude Monet’s studies of the Rouen Cathedral. These computer-generated images suggest the underlying compositional, color and light qualities of Claude Monet’s works in wholly abstracted form.
MARGO LEAVIN GALLERY
812 North Robertson Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90069
