Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Mona Loser, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
27.5 x 21 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Bankercunts, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
75 x 101.5 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Clamoring I tell you, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
91 x 91 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Hey Wayne?, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
83 x 122 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Human Grocery Store, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
92 x 122 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Interfector Mundi, 2018
Aerosol stencil on aluminium
55 x 60 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Paris Cafe Scene, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
84 x 112 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Napoleon Crossing the Alps, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
110 x 140 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Rose Beheading Harvey, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
83 x 112 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Son of Monsanto, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
84 x 112 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (ELK)
Starry Night, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
83 x 112 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Arrangement in Grey and Red No.1, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
84 x 101.5 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
Unrealistic Ideals, 2018
Aerosol on canvas
80.5 x 122 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
St Francis on Ecstasy , 2018
Aerosol on canvas
76.5 x 76.5 cm (canvas size only)
AVAILABLE
(in)Appropriate
Luke Cornish (E.L.K)
In his latest body of work, “(In)Appropriate”, Luke Cornish (E.L.K.) has re-contextualized some of the most significant art historical paintings of the past five hundred years. Jacques Louis David’s “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” has been, in the hands of the stencil artist, transformed into "Napoleon (Dynamite) Crossing the Alps.” "Judith beheading Holofernes” is now “Rose (McGowan) beheading Harvey (Weinstein)”. Certainly, there are political commentaries and social criticisms within these images. Cornish, however, maintains a distance from these critiques, imbuing the paintings with a jovial nature that is sometimes at odds with the seriousness of the subject matter. Moreover, the diversity of themes being criticized (Cornish tackles everything from feminism, to drone strikes, to the rights of refugees) works to dilute the seriousness of the condemnation. He is certainly not dispassionate about the subject matter, however, one is certainly given the impression that Cornish has re-contextualized these historical paintings almost willy nilly. At its core, “(In)Appropriate” reaffirms the right of the individual generally, and the artist specifically, to vandalize the inviolable, to treat nothing as sacred. This is conveyed in form as well as content. Beautiful oils have been exchanged for stenciled layers of aerosol. Blasphemous imagery has been presented in the traditional framing typical of a National Art Gallery. Artistic styles have been effortlessly and almost scornfully mimicked. On all levels, Cornish mocks and subverts, undermines and destabilizes. This sentiment is personified in the triumphant, yet absurd, figure of Napoleon (Dynamite) calmly poised to cross the metaphorical mountains of political correctness. Cornish, it seems, has weaponized the absurd expression of his subject (a surrogate for himself, perhaps), as it allows him to tackle the themes which even his horse is terrified of. The show amounts to an exercise in the kind of subversion that ultimately has its roots in Street Art.
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