Label TextThis painting recalls Mannerist painting of the sixteenth century, characterized by figures with elongated limbs, complex posture, and intricate composition, as well as the voluptuous pinups of the 1940s and 50s illustrated by Alberto Vargas. The women also reference the three graces of Greek mythology, Zeus’s daughters Aglaria, Euphrosyne, and Thalia who were the personifications of beauty, gentleness, and friendship. “Honestly, it’s always me remembering an old master and combining it with contemporary ad image,” says Currin. “Those are the two things that compel me.” This synthesis of the historical and the modern gives the painting an edgy quality, paradoxically impressive with its mastery of the medium and classical subject, yet unseemly with its cheesecake eroticism. Three Friends simultaneously celebrates and challenges the traditional role of the female nude as an object of desire in art.
Exhibition HistoryThe Nude in Contemporary Art, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, 6 June – 12 September 1999
Published ReferencesThe Nude in Contemporary Art, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, Herlin Press, 1999, ill. p. 51.
Humor, absurdity, and technical viruosity mark Currin's work. His drawings and paintings look to art history, but respond to contemporary sensibilities. Among other sources, the artist draws from the art of the Renaissance, French Rococo, and popular illustration. Often sexually charged, but always expressive and psychologically jarring, Currin's work points the way for a new mode of realism in contemporary art. Three Friends is the artist's largest work to date and exhibits his signature figurative distortions, expressive quality, and expert manipulation of paint.
Source: DMAC NEWS March April 2002
Exhibition HistoryThe Nude in Contemporary Art, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, 6 June – 12 September 1999
Published ReferencesThe Nude in Contemporary Art, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, Herlin Press, 1999, ill. p. 51.
DimensionsCanvas: 78 × 61 in. (198.1 × 154.9 cm)
Accession Number 2001.27
Classificationspainting
SignedJohn Currin 1998 (u,l verso)
ProvenanceArtist. (Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York). Wendy Evans Joseph, New York [acquired by 1999]; (Peter Freeman Gallery, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous and partial gift from the prior, 2001]
Collections
Images (1)
Audio (1)
