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Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick
The Tower

2017

$2,500
£1,871.21
€2,162.21
CA$3,466.67
A$3,883.11
CHF 2,018.79
MX$47,948.62
NOK 25,717.75
SEK 24,312.13
DKK 16,135.58
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About the Item

Watercolor on archival paper 23 x 17 inches in white-painted custom wood frame with 8ply mat 19 x 13 inches unframed This whimsical watercolor drawing on archival paper was made by the creative duo Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick as part of their series "Madame Lulu's Book of Fate", wherein the artists celebrate the carnivalesque with a cast of peculiar costumed characters. In this illustration, a cluster of sienna-colored buildings are stacked in the shape of a human figure. Surrounded by a spring-green landscape and bearing flowers--a pale yellow sunflower in one hand, and a bouquet in the others--the figure appears gentle despite its colossal size. The artists' highly stylized approach adds an almost vintage touch. The drawing is complimented by a simple white frame, and a sturdy wire across the back provides for instant, professional-quality hanging. About "Madame Lulu's Book of Fate": 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? About Kahn & Selesnick: The ultimate storytellers, who have been showing with Carrie Haddad Gallery for more than 20 years, are Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick of Kahn & Selesnick, who met at Washington University in St. Louis in the 1970’s. Their initial collaboration started in Truro, MA with real film and a box camera, (that belonged to Kahn's father and was actually used during the war), a real darkroom, stacks of cotton rag paper, and a xerox machine set on sepia tone. The first few series documented an invented history about “The Royal Excavation Corps” and their experiences with a shaman, experimental wings for solo flying, psychedelic honey and all sorts of adventures shot like an old movie. Eight series later, Kahn & Selesnick now shoot with digital cameras and alter them on the computer. The results are stunning and still have the appearance of an era long ago. One of their most interesting series, Truppe Fledermaus (Bat Troupe), explores magic realism and documents a group a performers dressed as bats, “greenmen” and “death dancers” who wander the countryside performing only for animals. There are many hand-made elements in Kahn & Selesnick's work—imaginative costumes, stage sets, carved clay bat heads and figures, as well as drawings.

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The Chariot (Kahn & Selesnick’s illustrated “Madame Lulu’s Book of Fate” Tarot)
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Watercolor on archival paper 23 x 17 inches in white-painted custom wood frame with 8ply mat 19 x 13 inches unframed This whimsical watercolor drawing on archival paper was made by the creative duo Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick as part of their series "Madame Lulu's Book of Fate", wherein the artists celebrate the carnivalesque with a cast of peculiar costumed characters. In this illustration, a humble wagon, humorously dubbed a "chariot", is transporting an assortment of theatrical props and trunks. A close look will reveal yet another curiosity: a pair of bare feet supporting and propelling the chariot. A subdued palette of sienna, beige, rose and umber unifies the composition, and the artists' highly stylized approach adds an almost vintage...
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archival pigment print 24 x 24 inches unframed This contemporary, surrealist style photograph was printed by the artistic duo, Kahn & Selesnick, in 2010. The print is part of their 'Mar: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea' series which features deserted landscapes in outer space. In this image, a mysterious and otherworldly mechanism floats through the Martian landscape. It is unknown who or what is operating it. With this imagery, the artists entice an imaginative narrative where the viewer is left to conjure up their own story. About the series: "Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea" is Kahn and Selesnick’s first project to feature a female protagonist; a woman finds herself alone in a wasteland that appears to be Mars. It is uncertain how she arrived in this place, via spacecraft, through a fold in the space-time continuum or perhaps the landscape is a mental projection. Either way, it is clear that she has escaped an unnamed catastrophe on Earth. In a series of hallucinatory episodes she simultaneously explores the planet and builds a mock-life for herself from a combination of high-tech and stone-age materials. Mars is revealed to have ruined artifacts and monuments from a previous, or perhaps future, civilization. The remains of massive stone listening devices are littered about the landscape, leading us to wonder: is this a colony that has collapsed and lost touch with earth? How did its occupants become stranded? Or are these the nocturnal imaginings of a post-apocalyptic survivor? About the artists: The ultimate storytellers, who have been showing with Carrie Haddad Gallery for more than 20 years, are Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick...
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archival pigment print 24 x 24 inches unframed This contemporary, surrealist style photograph was printed by the artistic duo, Kahn & Selesnick, in 2010. The print is part of their ...
Category

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Tulip Mania (Circular Color Photograph of Figures & Flowers)
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Circular color photograph of figures in a white landscape with red and white tulips Archival pigment print, ed. of 5 10 inch diameter image on 22 x 17 inch archival paper Made to order, unframed This circular photograph...
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Raggy (Circular Color Photograph of Red Mythical Figure in an Arctic Landscape)
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Circular color photograph a red mythical figure in an icy Arctic landscape Archival pigment print, ed. of 5 10 inch diameter image on 22 x 17 inc...
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Baron Samedi: Portrait Photograph of Woman and Ioa of Haitian Vodou for the Dead
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Archival pigment print, 10 x 10 inches on 17 x 22 inch paper ($2000) Also available in 24 x 24 inches ($3500) and 32 x 32 inches ($4500) Composed in a cool palette of jade and emerald green, beige, umber, and accents of pale blue, this photograph by artist duo Kahn & Selesnick combines the classically beautiful with the eerie. The image depicts a young man donned in period dress standing in the mud, holding the hand of a lady on a wooden chest. Baron Samedi...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography

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