Bradley Rubenstein "Resurrection Set: Wendy Brain"

In Bradley Rubenstein's previous works the psychological associations were rich and often sinister, suggesting the perils and pleasures of both sexual development and biotechnology. In his current paintings, J. M. Barrie's classic tale "Wendy and Peter" (1904) forms the basis for a new series of hybrid anatomies that explore similar themes of lost youth, the genealogy of identity, and unfettered biological bodies.

Rubenstein's images incorporate photographs of friends and family, early childhood drawings, PET, MRI, and x-ray scans, acupuncture diagrams, and art historical references. All of these disparate elements are reconfigured through a complex process that combines traditional picture-making methods with modern technology.

Collage "studies" are developed digitally, and then silkscreened onto human-scaled canvases with hand-ground pigments, often using historically based techniques, such as black oil glazing, and then enhanced by brush-work and painterly grounds. The figures are graphic and ambiguous at the same time: where the corporeal body ends and a fictional one begins is intentionally confused. At times almost touching (Wendy as a small flower whose petals are anamorphic skulls), and sometimes frightening (Mrs. Darling as a hare with two drooping breasts suckling her unwanted sons), Rubenstein's evocation of Peter and Wendy - neither literal nor effusive -- is arresting and original.

Bradley Rubenstein is the recent recipient of a Pollock-Krasner foundation grant, and a former NEA Fellowship in Painting award. This is Mr. Rubenstein's third solo exhibition in New York.

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