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Sebastian Black

Thank you. Thank you. Now I would like to talk about how the Bush administration covered up the tapestry of Guernica by the entrance to the U.N. Security Council with some blue curtains [ears] so that those poor ladies wouldn’t have to watch Colin Powell’s W.[mouth] M.[eyes] D.[nose] slideshow. Nelson Rockefeller commissioned that tapestry and gave it to the U.N. to promote peace on earth. What would he say about such hijinks? He who had Lenin sandblasted [whiskers] off his Diego Rivera mural might have offered valuable insight! Oh those poor Guernican gals! With their hands like baseball mitts and their ears like clam fritters, [muzzle] forced to listen while Secretary Powell made his terrible case. I hope they find peace and quiet. Once in Italy I saw a painting of a damsel. She had a an ivory bosom and dimples [pupils] where her knuckles should have been. She was in the middle of a gilt frame in the middle of a great hall [muzzle, head] where nobody was saying anything. I hope they find peace like that, 2018

Oil on linen
152.4 x 114.3cm
About Sebastian Black
Sebastian Black is a painter and sculptor who depicts colourful, fragmented and multi-layered forms that confuse the delineation between abstraction and representation. Black’s paintings are playful, satirising the art world, the stereotypically sombre eye of the critic, and the outlandish speculations made by viewers when trying to determine the meaning of an artwork. An ode to the cubism of the early 20th century, Black’s works are like the Rorschach test; some portray drooping dog’s faces that also appear like female forms if viewed in a different way. Black seeks to unpick and reimagine the notion of abstraction in order to manipulate the viewer’s relationship, both with his works and with their own perceptions. Written by Goldsmiths CCA

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