Ken Aptekar: Painting Between the Lines, 1990-2000Ken Aptekar's paintings examine Jewishness, masculinity, autobiography, identity, and the slippery history of art. By appropriating paintings from Western art history, repainting them on wood panels, and covering them with sandblasted texts that include witty and poignant autobiography, Aptekar amplifies and extends art history's discursive dialogue.This volume examines this mid-career artist's work for the past ten years, unravelling the stories that knit together the narrative character of Aptekar's work. Over the past ten years, Aptekar's text-on-glass has changed from a single word or short phrases to anecdotes exploring the myriad guises that constitute a complex individual. Stories of his family and solicited responses from viewers merge with the histories embedded in the images Aptekar uses as source paintings. Aptekar lives in New York City and Paris.Juxtaposing compelling narrative with imagery borrowed from art history's most-established and revered figures, Aptekar creates emotionally intimate, yet broadly accessible paintings. Aptekar's confessional colloquy with artists such as Rembrandt, El Greco, Manet, and Boucher; his family, museum-goers, and himself, provides the paintings' personal and emotional plenitude that expands the domain of interpretive possibilities. |
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1999 oil paint 30 inches Collection 60 Collection Angels Aptekar's paintings Aptekar's text armor art history Art Museum artist beautiful Bernice Steinbaum Gallery bolts 60 bolts 60 x Boucher call from Nick Center CIRCLE OF REMBRANDT Collection of Dr Contemporary Art Corcoran Gallery Courtesy of Bernice Crosby Kemper Cultural disabled gardeners eigentlich Aptekar Exhibition catalogue essay Father Dragged Ford Auditorium Foundation Four Questions FRICK Gallery of Art grandmother Harry Fisher history's identity Jack Shainman Gallery Jeff Gelblum Jewish Museum Jewish questioning Jews John Felstiner judge judgment Kansas City Kemper Museum Ken Aptekar keynahora Linda Nochlin Mieke Bal Museum of Art Museum of Contemporary narrative old and hiding Old Masters Oversensitive paint on wood Portrait Rachofsky Raphael red hair Saied Azali sandblasted glass Security Officer Serpentine Gallery Shtetl to Shtetl source paintings Steinbaum Gallery Miami Steven Robman story tailor Talking to Pictures University viewers Washington words York