Francis Alÿs: Fabiola
September 7, 2008–January 4, 2009 | Ahmanson Building
Commissioned by Dia Art Foundation and curated by Lynne Cooke, Francis Alÿs: Fabiola was first installed at the Hispanic Society of America in northern Manhattan from September 2007 to April 2008. Francis Alÿs, a Belgian artist who relocated to Mexico City in the early 1990s, has assembled a significant collection of nearly identical paintings and other depictions of fourth-century Saint Fabiola over the last two decades. All of these are based on a renowned, but lost, portrait by nineteenth-century French academic painter Jean-Jacques Henner. This much-venerated image has been so assiduously copied by amateurs and professionals alike that it has become a popular icon, a phenomenon that, as the artist stated, "indicates a different criterion of what a masterwork could be." Gathered from flea markets, antique shops, and private collections throughout Europe and the Americas, Alÿs's collection offers a window onto aesthetic, sociological, and theological values over the past century and more. This exhibition will display Alÿs's group of more than three hundred Fabiola portraits, all of them copies of a lost original: most are paintings, and there are several versions in needlepoint, wood relief, and other materials as well.
All text courtesy of my contacts at LACMA, thanks friends!
4 comments:
I like how you quote from the website but don't mention where you got the text or who wrote it, or even link to it. That must be what 'blogging' means.
if you took the time to click on the link that is the name of the show, you would find out where it came from. don't be so uptight. don't worry friend i'll fix it all up for you. what's more important here is, did i have permission, answer=yes, you=brave enough to blast me for something insignificant but not brave enough to sign your comment. but thanks for looking at the site. blogging is only a little of what i do, perhaps i should hire you to correct things for me. because i obviously don't have the time.
oh anon I updated the kippenberger post to your liking also. anything else i can do for you?
Keep up the good work. (yes I am for hire.)
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