LLUÍS BARBA: Travellers in Time / YOUNG MASTERS: Focus on New Work

London’s The Cynthia Corbett Gallery will be presenting Lluis Barba | Travellers in Time and Young Masters | Focus on New Work at Site/109.

Lluís Barba’s work examines masterpieces from the past. His exercises in reinterpretation, materialized in a body of work reminiscent of collage, blur historical boundaries to interrogate the insubstantiality of our memory. The centerpiece of the exhibition at Site/109 will be Barba’s seminal work, a reimagining of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, this will be the first time the work will be shown in New York, following the artist’s solo museum show ‘Travels in Time’ at the Fundacio Vila Casas, Barcelona. A contemporary master of inventive storytelling – Barba successfully weaves art historical references and old master paintings seamlessly amongst art-world luminaries, celebrities, ordinary people, his friends, his collectors and of course iconic art works that we today value and readily recognize.

Lluís Barba reworks iconic artworks to comment on contemporary society, introducing modern characters into Hieronymus Bosch’s or Pieter Brueghel’s medieval scenes. His work leverages the language of artistic symbolism to critique both modern society and the art world. Utilizing society darlings such as Paris Hilton and Kate Moss, art world players such as Jay Jopling and music icons such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna, Barba expresses his debt to Art History and contemporary culture through a satirical and humorous slant.

Young Masters | Focus on New Work presents a diverse range of contemporary works by artists including: Annie Kevans, Bartholomew Beal, Chris Antemann, Derrick Santini, Elisabeth Caren, Fabiano Parisi, Isabelle van Zeijl, Juergen Wolf, Lottie Davies, Oliver Jones, Red Saunders, Steven Rockefeller, Jr., Yigal Ozeri and Zemer Peled.

This exhibition features work in a range of media from painting and photographer to mixed media and ceramics. Each artist takes an aspect of art history, such as genre, technique, subject matter and, by reinventing elements for today’s world, makes the work of the past contemporary.