STRIKE A JUXTAPOSE — “No. 13 (White, Red on Yellow)” by Mark Rothko, 1958 vs. Cacharel by Cédric Charlier, Spring/Summer 2011

“…In Rothko’s oeuvre color varies greatly, and it evokes a full range of emotions. The primary hues of red and yellow that make up “No. 13 (White, Red on Yellow)” are bright and joyous, while other works are composed of dark, brooding maroons, blues, and greens. In the two years before his suicide in 1970, the artist produced a large series of dark paintings, the majority of which were executed on paper with acrylics. Made up of opaque, monochromatic grays, browns, and blacks, these works are generally simpler in structure and eliminated the floating effect that previously enlivened paintings like ‘No. 13 (White, Red on Yellow).’” [read more at The Metropolitan Museum of Art]

STRIKE A JUXTAPOSE — “Night Creatures” by Lee Krasner, 1965 vs. Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, Spring 2010

“…During the 1940s, Krasner was among the group of first-generation Abstract Expressionists working in New York, although her considerable achievements at that time were often eclipsed by those of her famous husband, Jackson Pollock. Throughout the next two decades, Krasner created intensely wrought paintings and collages characterized by gestural brushwork, rich surface texture, and allover rhythmic movement.

Executed on paper, “Night Creatures” delivers an even greater emotional impact than her larger oils on canvas of the same period. One imagines that hidden within the thicket of Krasner’s swirling black-and-white paint strokes are menacing eyes, heads, and even entire figures surrounded by dense foliage.” [read more at The Metropolitan Museum of Art]

STRIKE A JUXTAPOSE — “Celia” by American artist John Graham circa 1944 vs. Louis Vuitton by American designer Marc Jacobs Fall/Winter 2010 (as styled for the “Fifties Flair” category of the 2010 Fashion’s Night Out: The Show event)

… In the early 1940s Graham underwent a radical philosophical transition, during which his belief in Marxism and psychoanalysis was replaced by more magical thinking. His taste for modernism shifted to the old masters, particularly those of the Renaissance. “Celia” was painted during these transitional years and is one of the many portraits of imaginary women dating from this time. In these paintings he achieved a monumental reinterpretation of classical art. Here, the calm and dignity of the lovely woman, her elegant silhouette, and her monumental solidity are reminiscent of ancient Roman portraiture, of Ingres, and of Raphael, while the forms, as well as the curious sense of detachment from place and time hint at biomorphic Surrealist sculpture. The tension between the figure and the flat pictorial structure belies Graham’s avowed dismissal of modernism. He maintained that he gave his sitters staring (sometimes crossed) eyes not as an expressive device, “but as a means to anchor space to a point in the room, to create more tension…to make the figures immutable, fixed and timeless.” [read more at The Metropolitan Museum of Art]

*This is the first in a series of forthcoming STRIKE A JUXTAPOSE posts that will pit various images and videos from disparate media against one another.