Richard Phillips talks to VanityFair about Rob's portrait
“After holding a contest within my studio to find the best red carpet face from the constant river of images, a composite was made from the best of the best of Pattinson’s expressions. The colorful and detailed Louis Vuitton background was to suggest a fictitious brand endorsement context that was commensurate with his position as the most popular member of the group. The difficulty became not how to render his face so he could be seen, but how to paint his presence so he could be inescapably felt when standing in front of the painting. My painting of Robert Pattinson began to fulfill its intention of giving pause, to question our relationship to the constant appearance and simultaneous dismissal of our disembodied selves in relation to a system that generates a forced intimacy with commercially enforced exceptionalism.”
“Most Wanted” opens January 27 at White Cube in London and is on display until March 5.
And for those in New York: The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is pleased to announce that artist Richard Phillips will be giving the second ArtTalk of 2011, to be held at Christie’s on Wednesday, March 9, at 6:30 p.m. ArtTalks, the AFA’s lecture series, features notable figures in the art world. Following Phillips’s lecture, audience members are invited to participate in a question-and-answer session and wine reception. In-kind support for ArtTalks is provided by Christie’s. Tickets can be purchased online here.
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Kristen's portrait is also featured in Phillips' "Most Wanted' Series. In case you missed it
6 comments:
Wow, a lot of thought when into that... Im impressed but it also makes me laugh lol
I like that this site includes stuff like this. This artist's work is critical (in the truest sense of the word, not simply 'opposed to') the commercial forces that created the celebrity Robert Pattinson (as opposed to the individual Robert Pattinson).
I'm huge fans of Robert and Kristen, and Twilight and the like, and I really like that there is a site like this, where people can be fans, but not be so thin skinned that reject any criticism of the stuff they enjoy.
Like I fell in love with this site when you guys posted a joke Conan made about Robert... everyone understood it was a JOKE and had a good laugh.
keep up the good work.
I think the explanation he gave was really complex! Wow, what a mouthful! Having said that, I do like the picture, it is creative and impressively constructed, but I'm not so keen on Robs expression. He kinda looks like he has model mouth.
STOP! DONT SHOOT!
Coming from an artistic background, in my opinion, this "painting" lacks not only artistic value but craft and technicality too.
I don't see how is this "painting" creative, when it's obvious this is a copy of Rob's photo from MTV awards (hello blue jacket).
It looks like high school project to me.
Also, this is a true exploitation!
(let's put Rob's and Kristen's face on canvas and tomorrow everybody will talk about it!)
It's amazing that some fans are more creative with their wallpapers of Rob. And manips too. Yet, we don't call them "artists".
It must be really painful to be a thought in this guy's head.
From an art history background this is perfectly valid work. The art world has moved beyond technical skill and naturalistic painting 60+ years ago with Rothko, Pollock and the like.
This isn't meant to be a pretty painting, its meant to be a critique of popular culture.
This is pop art...its not about the technical skill its about the content. Its about the postmodern positioning of existing images in a manner that contextualizes them in a different way.
This work is mean to be an exploration of celebrity in a commercial, consumerist culture. The artist talks about the forced intimacy, the artifice, and the consumerism that surrounds celebrity.
It is the conceptual elements of this work that make it a significant piece of art, not the formal or technical achievements.
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