Details:
① Artwork:
Anastassia, pt. 1
This portrait is of a young Nastassja Kinski. Echoing Western European historical painting, Karnig holds Kinski at an impossible, formally-suspended distance within the picture frame — a contemporary Venus emerging from the shadows. Karnig imaginatively restructures the subject with slightly strange proportions, pulling the viewer further into the curious illusion of the picture.
Max Xeno Karnig draws inspiration from historical Western European painting, specifically its fascination with a formalized vision of desire. He grapples with a gaze that holds the subject at an impossible, formally suspended distance in the frame, utilizing compositional schemes and painting processes characteristic of idealized allegorical portraits by painters like Albrecht Dürer and Antonello da Messina. Karnig then replaces classical mythological and religious subjects with icons of Western cinema, having them occupy this hallowed space for projection, reflection, and mimicry. By softening features here, illuminating them there, and eschewing photo-realistic depiction, Karnig sublimates these cinematic icons in a metaphysical realm.
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③ Artist:
Max Xeno Karnig draws inspiration from historical Western European painting, specifically its fascination with a formalized vision of desire. He grapples with a gaze that holds the subject at an impossible, formally-suspended distance in the frame, utilizing compositional schemes and painting processes characteristic of idealized allegorical portraits by painters like Albrecht Dürer and Antonello da Messina. Karnig then replaces classical mythological and religious subjects with icons of Western cinema, having them occupy this hallowed space for projection, reflection, and mimicry. By softening features here, illuminating them there, and eschewing photo-realistic depiction, Karnig sublimates these cinematic icons in a metaphysical realm.
Max Xeno Karnig was born in 1990 in New York, NY, and lives in Los Angeles, CA. Karnig received a BA in art history and studio art from the University of California, San Diego in San Diego, CA (2013) and an MFA from the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, CA (2019).
He has mounted solo exhibitions at Painters Painting Paintings in Hertfordshire, UK (2024); Samuele Visentin in London, UK (2023); Cruise Control Gallery in Cambria, CA (2023); and Castle Gallery in Los Angeles, CA (2022).
Karnig has participated in recent group exhibitions at Seaview in Los Angeles, CA (2024); Ketabi Bourdet in Paris, France (2023); La Loma Projects in Los Angeles, CA (2023); and Praz Delavallade in Los Angeles, CA (2019).
This portrait is of a young Nastassja Kinski. Echoing Western European historical painting, Karnig holds Kinski at an impossible, formally-suspended distance within the picture frame — a contemporary Venus emerging from the shadows. Karnig imaginatively restructures the subject with slightly strange proportions, pulling the viewer further into the curious illusion of the picture.More
- Framed: 12.5 x 10.5 in.
