Harmony Korine: Shooters
Revealing another side to the acclaimed filmmaker, Gagosian Gallery in New York presents an exhibition of Harmony Korine’s recent paintings. The exhibition is titled Shooters.
Korine is known for films including Kids (1995) and Spring Breakers (2012), which offer a revealing view on contemporary society, merging reality with fiction and shaky footage with precise editing. Korine’s paintings are a lesser-known side to his creative talents, yet they have much in common with his filmmaking process. Bypassing brush and art paint in favour of squeegees, leftover household paint, and masking tape, he creates loosely sequential images that echo the sonic and visual leitmotifs of his films.
Loop Paintings are the result of a process somewhat related to filmmaking: Korine cast young men and women, made them up as elderly people, and photographed them in alleyways. He then laid down the resulting photographs on canvas in idiosyncratic progressions that recall other serial experiments. His Starburst Paintings are also of an experimental nature. In Starburst Paintings, Korine sticks overlapping segments of masking tape to the centre of an unprimed canvas, and then uses a broom to spread primary red, yellow, and blue dyes over the surface. The tape is removed to reveal bright, irregular stars shining through colourful mists; the final compositions are characterized by a spontaneous, explosive radiance.
Shooters is on display at Gagosian Gallery, New York from Monday 12 May – Saturday 21 June 2014.
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