Art Talk
Jesse Mockrin at Night Gallery and Taylor Mac at UCLA
Hunter Drohojowska-Philp praises realist paintings based on Greek mythology
By Hunter Drohojowska-Philp • • 4m ListenPan, that naughty nature deity of Classical Greek mythology, was not only popular in the art of that time but throughout western art history.
Synrinx. 2018. Jesse Mockrin. Oil on Linen. Courtesy of Night Gallery.
Syrinx (2018) on two earlier versions of the tale, one by 17th-century Dutch master Peter Paul Rubens and the other by 18th-century French artist Noel-Nicholas Coypel. Mockrin copied parts of specific figures and gestures from each of those works and presented them on matte black backgrounds. Two large panels, hung only an inch apart, appear to be a single painting but in fact document a continuity of interest by two artists over the course of a century.
Abduction. 2018. Jesse Mockrin. Oil on Linen. Courtesy of Night Gallery.
Abduction (2018) also visits a familiar theme of art history with barely clothed women in distress about to be carried away on horseback. The rearing beast, the pleading faces of the women, the limbs and bodies of pale, pink tinged flesh. Mockrin retains the enticing surface appeal of earlier painting techniques but she crops and reorganizes the pictures as a narrative critique.
Some Unknown Power. 2018. Jesse Mockrin. Oil on Linen. Courtesy of Night Gallery.
Taylor Mac's Holiday Sauce. Photo credit: Little Fang Photography.
