“Sparkling City With Egg Monuments #3” (2023) was created with acrylic and spray paint on primed canvas over a wood panel.
“Found Buried #2” (2020) was created using cel vinyl paint and spray varnish over primed canvas on a titanium and wood panel.
The exhibition “Magical Realism” honors the 72-year-old painter Lari Pittman.
The exhibition at the Long Museum West Bund features over 30 paintings and drawings by Littman created over the past twelve years, highlighting the artist’s ongoing engagement with themes of modern life, including renewal and optimistic renewal in 21st century society.
The exhibition highlights Pittman’s extensive oeuvre and the development of his work over the last decade.
Over the course of his four-decade career, the American has developed a distinctive visual language that has made him one of the most important painters of his generation.
His characteristic, multi-layered painting style includes a lexicon of signs and symbols, a compilation of different painting techniques, unique color combinations and a clear homage to the handmade, crafted and decorative.
“Vanitas #1” (2021) was created using cel vinyl paint and spray lacquer over primed canvas on a titanium and wood panel.
The artist has had numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including a major retrospective at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in 2019. His works have also been shown at the Whitney Biennial (1993, 1995, 1997), Documenta (1997) and the Venice Biennale (2003).
In Magical Realism, the visual motif of eggs, which has appeared in Pittman’s work since the mid-1980s, is present throughout. The shapes are integrated into nightscapes and cityscapes, appearing as monuments and as part of natural scenes, ready to hatch into life.
In his eyes, eggs are part of a utopian perspective: a feminist and generative vision of the world rooted in the abundance of life. These egg shapes are represented in different sizes and shapes.
“Lari Pittman’s work reflects the exuberance of past eras and the home of future worlds,” said Steiner, curator of the exhibition. “His complex images give orderly structures to contemporary ideas, represented through unique colors and shapes. Lari’s work has left an indelible mark on art history and inspired many of his colleagues as well as a younger generation of artists.”
When you go
Dates: Until 20 October (closed on Mondays) 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. (Tuesday to Thursday), 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m. (Friday to Sunday)
Venue: Long Museum West Bund
Address: 3398 Longteng Avenue long 龙腾大道3398号
Entrance fee: 100 yuan
