Marc Dennis draws inspiration from the Dutch Golden Age's vanitas genre, known for depicting life’s transience through opulent symbolism. In his latest works, including "Happily Ever After," he uses imagery like bees, hornets, and kaleidoscopic bubbles to evoke themes of impermanence and the clash between the organic and the artificial. His piece "Allegory of the Readymade" incorporates plastic wrap to illustrate a moment of brief vibrancy caught in a stifled state. These contemporary adaptations serve as reflections on the fleeting nature of existence and are currently exhibited in New York through March 1.
During the Dutch Golden Age, vanitas grew in popularity as a genre of memento mori that emphasized life's transience. The opulent paintings were steeped in symbolism and foregrounded the futility of ambition and worldly pleasures.
In a recent oil painting, "Happily Ever After," hordes of honeybees and hornets descend on a lush bouquet. Kaleidoscopic bubbles float across the five-foot canvas, reflecting the surrounding colors and distorting clear viewers of nearby flowers and fruit.
Similar tensions appear in "Allegory of the Readymade," which suffocates and warps a seemingly vibrant painting with thick layers of plastic wrap. Each of the works clings to a brief moment in time.
Dennis' paintings are on view in I'm Happy You're Here through March 1 at Harper's Gallery in New York.
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