Phil Toledano. we’ve been in a couple of group shows together, where he showed work from his series A New Kind of Beauty. not only do i like the topic, but the images are just gorgeous. i love with the skin tones. here is the first one that i saw (please click on the link above to read statement and see more, you’ll be happy you did).
Dina
his new series is just a work of fucking genius. i checked it out yesterday. Kim Jong Phil. i’d just be plagiarizing if i tried to explain it so here are words straight from the man’s mouth -
“I think a great deal about what it means to be an artist.
I reflect on the elaborate psychological mechanisms required to pursue something so elusive, so ambiguous. I often wonder: ‘Am I talking to myself?’
I don’t make work for other people, but as an artist, I need to be in dialogue with the world that exists beyond my overpopulated cranium. I’ve concluded that to be effective-to be functional-I must guzzle an eye-popping cocktail of delusion and narcissism.
It occurred to me that being an artist is a great deal like being a dictator.
Just like a dictator, I must live in a closed loop of self-delusion. A place where my words and ideas always ring true. A gilded daydream of grandiosity. There can be no room for doubt. I must be convinced that I have something vital to say. I must believe that the world is waiting in keen anticipation to hear my message.
For my palette, I’ve copied pre-existing dictatorial art. Paintings from North Korea, statues of assorted dictators (Kim Il Sung, Laurent Kabilla, and Saddam Hussein). I had these works re-created in China, and each instance, I’ve replaced the great leaders with myself.”
Phillip Toledano, 2011
and what a solid sense of humor. he’s like the Colbert of the artworld.
It's true, I'm utterly fascinating. oil on canvas 30x40 inches
Mr Toledano as Saddam Hussein. bronze, 20 inches
You have so much to learn, and I have so much to give. Oil on canvas, 50×60 inches