Brian Calvin

Brian Calvin

John Calvin, Ray Van Neste, Brian Denker • Spoonbill Books

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Completeness 42

Cover quality: low resolution

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Something of a celebration of slackerdom, Calvin's idiosyncratic paintings capture the decadent melancholy and malaise of modern Californian living, whilst also revealing the artists keen powers of observation, rigorous approach to his craft and attention to the formal dimensions of his medium. Calvin's highly stylized figures, flattened pallet and skewed cropping have earned him comparison with Alex Katz and David Hockney, who he appears to be at once emulating and parodying, while simultaneously referencing music and pop-culture icons. Despite the presence of his cartoonish protagonists, the paintings utterly resonate with the principles of abstraction; figures stand as vessels for unplaceable narratives, ones which only unveil themselves through fragments and uncanny reflections. Calvin's work has been included in group shows such as the California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach; Beja to Vancouver, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, 2003 ; Painting Pictures; Dear Painter, paint me..., Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. He also recently collaborated with his longtime friend, Raf Simons, lending the Californian ease of his works to the Belgian designers Spring/Summer 13 collection. Minor dings to the top and bottom left corners near binding.

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