The candy eyed, and brightly colored portraits of rock stars, politicians, and actors spotting the walls of the “Live Forever” exebite have made critiques cross their eyebrows, and artist fold their arms across their chest in wonderment. Tiny portraits made by on just paper or old fashion brush strokes hang in the halls of gallaries across Europe and the United States. Elizabeth Joy Peyton’s work of super stars, family, and friends are often taken to the chopping block as if critiques, viewers, and artists believe that taking a knife to the throats of her portraits will frighten the images into confession, a confession of what? Why Elizabeth Peyton is considered one of the most influential artist? how her work is distinct? What do the critiques think about her work?
Born in Danbury, Connecticut in 1965 with only two fingers on her right hand Elizabeth Joy Peyton learned to paint with her left hand. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York were she studied Douglas Blau, Mary Heilmann, Craig Owens, and Jack Whitten (Peyton). That same year she had her first show in Althea Viafora New York gallery but it was unsuccessful, and she began to work for Ronald Jones and PhotoReporters. In 1993 at the Chelsea Hotel she held a show of fifteen drawings and two paintings of historical figures that collected more dust than viewers. She was able to signed on with Gavin Brown in a three person show called “Projects 60” that same year (Peyton). Then in the mid 90s Payton’s paintings of Kurt Cobain, Jean-Pierre career changed so quickly that her fame could only be fate or a mistake of nature. Today, her most distinguished exhibite “Live Forever” has appeared in galleries in across the United States, Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany, and she has even had some publications in Tokyo.
Portrait, a painting of a person. The first question to answer about Peyton’s work is why does she paint who she paints. Peyton says that she paints people because, “It was something I wanted to know existed-that people could be -heroic or could come from anywhere and make great things out of themselves. That's what I was -interested in (Cooker).” More often than not she collects old photographs, magazine clippings of super stars before she paints them (Haber). Even she depictions of friends and family are taken from photographs. Her work is as girly as those of 1960s fan magazines, and as influential as pop culture it’s self (Savage). The college of cultural icons, friends, and historical figures in her shows makes the figures seem to be a collection of royalty. Each one has opened their intimate surroundings but their unwelcoming gaze reminds the audience that they are stars and not common (John).
Peyton uses medium and materials are unique. Her work is a series of quick sketches and paintings for the most popular and fashionable icons of our day gives her work a sense of weightlessnesss as if she were a promising student or illustrator (Haber). The old fashion medium creates a intense sense of irony against the contemporary critiques and the superstars themselves. Even the size of her paintings seems to contridicte the images fame and fortune. Her paintings do not stair down from large canvases, but are small almost skittish against the large white walls (Smith). Most of her work has a distinct texture of razor-sharp graphics and bolded contrasts. The focus is on the person, their face and features not the background. Unable to place the setting leaves the portraits as portraits and does not force one to choose between seeing a portrait as pornography or satire (Haber).
Yellows, greens, and oranges among a pallet of bright colors distinguish Peyton’s work. The color range does not claim more than it is due, but it helps her to share her love of the characters frozen in time on her canvases (Haber). Lavender, lilac and crimsons fills her paint brush as she create a sense of fantasy in German rocker Jochen Distelmeyer baby blue eyes and mystery in Tokyo with the blend of purples. All the same the youth and dead artist living on tangerine cigaretts, ruby red lipstick and fame carry their own sense of doom (Searle). Although, recently Peyton has began to reclaim her style as she adds a richer and darker tones to Michele Obama, and Jochen Distelmeyer. If she continued with the same flawless, jewel-like portraits of pretty, wan young celebraties her work would appear like identical candy-colored glazed eyes and flicked-in red lips that deserve the scorn that some would heap on her now (Ken). Color, is an important element in Peyton’s work.
Some have tried to dismiss Peyton’s work as iconic and unfashionable, ignoring her influence. Others believe there is not much subject matter to discuss in Peyton’s work, beyond paint and the tradition of portraiture (Onli). Unlike Andy Warhol her medium is not layered or changing. She has recaptured the power of paint as paint (Falutoiu). Her images have given a rebirth to the portrait. The wide eyes of Balzac or Napoleon on the same wall as the Rolling Stones offers a new preception of style and status that puzzels generations, and questions our impact on history. Peyton has introduction of sketch, paint, and portraits has taken art to such a different level that her work can not help but to be examined and explored.
Falutoiu, Claudia. Elizabeth Peyton: Re-mastering the sketch. 9 February 2010. Crossroads magazine.
Onli, Meg. Art Fag City on Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton. Bad At Sports: Contemporary Art Talk. 22 October 2008. Web. February 2011. http://badatsports.com/2008/art-fag-city-on-live-forever-elizabeth-
John Haber. The American Royals. New York City. Web. February 2011. http://www.haberarts.com/peyton.htm
John Haber. The American Royals. New York City. Web. February 2011. http://www.haberarts.com/peyton.htm
Cooker, Jarvis. Eliabeth Peyton. Interview. Web. February 2011. http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/elizabeth-peyton/
makes you want to melt, but often her work yearns for Café Royalty, nights with Oscar Wilde, but had to settle for stars so hip it hurts, so cool it sometimes kills them. (Guardian) New Museum states that Eliz
Ken, Johnson. Art in Review; Elizabeth Peyton. The New York Times: Arts. 23 November 2001.
Elizabeth Peyton. Bad At Sports: Contemporary Art Talk. 22 October 2008. Web. February 2011. http://badatsports.com/2008/art-fag-city-on-live-forever-elizabeth-peyton/
Smith, Roberta. The Personal and the Painterly. The New York Times: Art and Design. New York, New York. October 10, 2008. page C29.
Elizabeth Peyton Biography. Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2007. Web. Feb 2011. < http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2007-Li-Pr/Peyton-Elizabeth.html>
Peyton, Elizabeth. Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton. New Museum. Bowery New York, New York. October 2008- January 2009. Web. February 2011.
Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton. New Museum: Exhibitions. 8 October 2009. Web. February 2011.
John Haber. The American Royals. New York City. Web. February 2011. http://www.haberarts.com/peyton.htm
The Guardian: Culture; art and design; art. Whitechapel, London. 8 July 2009.
That its intimate scale and willful prettification of some of the nineties’ butt-ugliest pop
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