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Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick
Feather Augury (Crimson Pastel Drawings on Handmade Paper by Kahn & Selesnick)

2019

About the Item

Feather Augury (Circular Crimson Pastel Drawing on Indian Handmade Cotton Paper by Kahn & Selesnick) 11 inch diameter, unframed pastel, conte crayon on paper Kahn & Selesnick’s latest project “Madame Lulu’s Book of Fate” continues the adventures of the Truppe Fledermaus, a cabaret troupe of anxious mummers and would-be mystics who catalogue their absurdist attempts to augur a future that seems increasingly in peril due to environmental pressures and global turmoil. In this body of work, the artists also examine the notion of the carnivalesque – traditionally the carnival was a time when the normal order of society was upended and reversed, so that at least for a day the fool might become king, the sinner a priest, men and women might cross dress, and sacred ceremonies and normal mores are burlesqued and spoofed. During such brief times of anarchy, societal pressures were relieved by revealing their somewhat absurd and arbitrary natures. Costumes and masks were traditionally worn so that all people might have the same social status during the duration of the festival. The Truppe ask you to consider: is it the carnival that is upside-down, or perhaps the real world that it purports to burlesque? The artistic duo’s latest extension to the ongoing series re-envisions the Danse Macabre, the Medieval allegory that reminds us no matter one’s station in life, the “Dance of Death” will ultimately unite us all. Four five-foot long panoramic images gracefully unfurl the Truppe’s cast of characters adorned in a variety of dress harkening back to French Revolution era. A parade of fools and dandies tread on thin ice in the company of agile skeletons, a beautiful yet haunting reminder that humans are on a slow march towards a shared fate. In the face of a turbulent political and environmental crisis, the artists make their own appeal to change the future with a series of circular drawings on handmade paper in pastel and conte crayon. "Panogolin Bonaparte" and "Medusa" are among the drawings that illustrate the transformation of humans into animals, a fantasy of mankind’s integration with nature. The "Feather Augury" features a single, delicate white feather and single dandelion stem that is just past its prime; both bask in the rays of the spring sun. The drawings in this series are presented as votive offerings to the Gods as a last attempt to bargain for a more hopeful future. About the artists: Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick are a collaborative artist team who work primarily in the fields of photography and installation art, specializing in fictitious histories set in the past or future. Kahn & Selesnick have participated in exhibitions worldwide and have work in over 20 collections, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. In addition, they have published 3 books with Aperture Press,and their latest book 100 Views of the Drowning World was released in 2017 by Candela Books.
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