Eric White: 1/3-Scale Retrospective

Arts+Leisure is pleased to present Eric White’s 1/3-Scale Retrospective, an installation of miniature copies of the artist’s earlier works reproduced by Xiamen Unique Oil Painting Co., Ltd., in China.

White’s original paintings typically feature images drawn from cinema, especially 1940s Hollywood and new-noir films, which he gives a surrealistic and psychological twist. In LA Weekly, Peter Frank describes his paintings as "full of puzzled faces, double-images, anachronisms and attenuated unlikelihoods...its wooziness enhanced with bilious colors, weird superimpositions, and a tendency to render everything a little bit wobbly and elongated—El Greco goes suburban." The recreations of these works manufactured by Xiamen Unique Oil Painting Co., Ltd. appear at first glance faithful copies. However, closer inspection reveals small errors, raising questions about authorship and the proliferation of knock-off goods. 

In the LA Times, Leah Ollman draws a comparison between 1/3-Scale Retrospective and the Dadaist practice, stating that the works are “[h]ilarity, parody and reverence perfectly packaged […] as commentary on authorship, outsourcing, Chinese exports, and a contemporary, politicized riposte to Duchamp’s ‘Boite-en-Valise’”—above all, emphasizing that White’s work exudes a distinctive and “devilish sense of humor”.
 

Eric White (b. Ann Arbor, MI 1968) is a visual artist currently based in New York and Los Angeles. He received a BFA degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1990 and served as an adjunct professor at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. In 2010, The New York Foundation for the Arts awarded White a Painting Fellowship. In 2015, a comprehensive monograph of his work was published by Rizzoli New York. His work has been shown extensively across the United States and Europe.

Please join us for an artist reception on Thursday, November 12th from 7-10 PM. Refreshments will be served. The exhibition will be accompanied by a small artist’s book of the same title, designed by Ninze Chen, available for sale.