Elliott Jay Arkin
American, born 1960Le Cadre, 1990
Not on view
Acrylic on cast resin
Dimensions60 × 60 × 14 in. (152.4 × 152.4 × 35.6 cm)
Gift of Mr. Andy Arkin, 1999.25
Arkin produces paintings from the past and does a kind of "what if" scenario in three dimensions. He reproduces the subject matter from famous paintings in three-dimensional form. Le Cadre was created to illustrate Western art history in the form of a picture frame. The gilded work throbs like a rectangular beehive with empty space in the middle. It's an ensemble of Botticelli's Venus along with Leonardo's Mona Lisa, and the Last Supper, and other well-known artists through time such as Klimt, Degas, Van Gogh, Warhol, and Ellsworth Kelly.
For all the classic humor in Le Cadre, it's the negative space of the frame that belies the obvious homage. Le Cadre takes on the guise of a fascinating puzzle executed by a master technician. Arkin's work poses the question, "What about art now and can it fill the shoes of the old masters?"
