La Ville Offerte (The Gift City), 1994
oil on panel
48 x 48 inches; 122 x 122 centimeters
As part of the 1995 Absolut L.A. International Biennial Invitational, Louis Stern Fine Arts opens the exhibition "Hervé Di Rosa: Paintings & Works on Paper" in collaboration with Galerie Louis Carré & Cie of Paris.
Di Rosa's paintings are a vital blend of diverse cultural and stylistic influences. The artist draws upon the broad artistic vocabulary he learned as a world traveller, and interprets his pan-ethnic images through a variety of comic-strip, grafitti, video, and art historical styles. In one such world pilgrimage in 1993, Di Rosa created a series of works utilizing the cultural and expressive modes of each country he visited. "Déjeuner à Kumasi" (1994), Di Rosa inserts portraits of himself and his brother into a family meal in a village in Ghana. We are immediately reminded of Manet’s shocking "Déjeuner sur l’herbe" in which he also made an unusual cultural juxtaposition. Manet’s work is itself based on Giorgioni’s mythological work from the Renaissance period, and so Di Rosa implies a kind of art-historical regression. Di Rosa’s figures are painted in a flat, simplified manner, reminiscent of the work of Rousseau, which suggests a reference to this artist’s primitivism. In essence, in this and many other works, Di Rosa assembles a collection of cultural lenses, allowing the viewer to exchange meanings, as he or she shifts perspectives.
Hervé Di Rosa’s works are included in both private and public collections. A partial list: National Museum of Modern Art, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris; Ludwig Forum for International Art, Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany; the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Chicago; Picasso Museum, Antibes, France; and the National Assembly in Paris. The artist is represented in Paris by Galerie Louis Carré & Cie. The exhibition opens on July 15 and closes on September 12. There will be a reception for the artist held in conjunction with other West Hollywood L.A. International openings on Saturday, July 15th, from 5pm-8pm.
A second L.A. International reception will be held on Friday, July 21st, from 6pm-8pm.