Amy Bessone

Amy Bessone, a Los Angeles based painter, depicts small porcelain figurines blown up to monumental size against monochromatic backgrounds resembling photographic and theatrical backdrops. The figures are assigned a new layer of meaning by Bessone. Originally functioning as tchotchkes or collectibles, figurines such as these serve as religious and secular devotional objects. They are placed on mantles and in cluttered curio cabinets. They make up motley crèches. By rescaling and decontextualizing them, Bessone creates for the figures their own isolated psychic spaces. While they engage the viewer in a performative, almost animated way, they remain frozen, detached as a function of Bessone's brush. Like Picasso's saltimbanques, they appear removed from the show they are meant to perform. The original nature of these figurines as kitschy fetish objects shifts to a new, more monumental aloofness. As fetishes in the Marxist sense, they appear unattached from their origins, free-floating and deceptive. The nudes take on another role as highly desirable sexual fetish objects.

EDUCATION

1995 De Ateliers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1993 BFA, Parsons Paris School of Design, Paris, France

1992 lÉcole nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts, Paris, France

1989 Barnard College, New York, NY.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2008    Salon 94, New York, NY

             Salon 94 Freemans, New York, NY

2007    David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2002    Xavier Hufkens, (w/Thomas Houseago), Brussels, Belgium

2000    Les Salles Étrangères, Art&Com (Véronique de Bellefroid), Brussels, Belgium

1999    Amy Bessone: New Paintings, Buro Empty, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1997    Amy Bessone: Schilderijn en Tekeningen, DNB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2006    Red Eye: Los Angeles Artists from the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL.

             Transformers, Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV.

              Hotel California, Glendale College Art Gallery, Glendale, CA.

2005     Both Ends Burning, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

               b.a.-ba, un choix dans la collection du Frac Bretagne, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Bignan

2001     Proposition 1 (Peinture), Art&Com (Véronique de Bellefroid), Brussels, Belgium

1999     Archétype, Kanal 11 (Véronique de Bellefroid), Brussels, Belgium

1998     Aanwinsten 1997, DNB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1997     Comité'97, Harderwijk, The Netherlands

1996     Young Artists I, Sabine Wachters Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium

              Group Show, Sabine Wachters Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2007    Turner, Elisa, "Rubell exhibit explores the West Coast scene," Miami Herald, April 1, 2007

2006    Garnet, Daisy, "The Collector: Why the Collector Mera Rubell Keeps it All in the Family."

              The New York Times Magazine, December 3

2005     Both Ends Burning, David Kordansky Gallery, October 2005

2002     "Hot Tickets, Exhibitions: Amy Bessone, Thomas Houseago", The Bulletin, September 19

1997     De Vries, Marina, "Spontane Figuren", in Het Parool, September 11

               Keijer, Kees, "Our little experiment", Comité'97 Catalogue, June

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

Frac Bretagne, Chateaugiron, France