FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kristi Engle Gallery
5002 York Ave.
Highland Park, CA 90042
323.472.6237
kristi@kristienglegallery.com

Kristi Engle Gallery presents "Age of Empires", an exhibition of two new large-scale works by Karl Erickson and Andrew Falkowski. The artists re-present two well known protraits of Louis XIV and Napoleon Bonaparte transformed through medium and process. Each work examines the art-effect of propaganda in its effort to legitimize political power.

Erickson reproduces Rigaud's portait of King Louis XIV (1701) in latch hook. This 70's kitsch medium is an affront to the splendor, elegance and natural authority that defined the monarch's reign. And yet his treatment also makes the supernatural image of "the Sun King" that much more luscious and grand. Erickson also replaces the royal salon background with a psychedelic swirl further muddling message and context by plucking the king from both time and space.

Falkowski takes as his source David's iconic portrait, "Napoleon crossing the Alps" (1801). Similarly propagandic to Rigaud's painting but with an important difference in message, David's Napoleon is portrayed as a citizen warrior, a commander for, and of, the people. Falkowski transforms the original into a pink monochrome, reverse mirrored like a playing card and in harsh contrast reminiscent of handmade punk rock concert flyers. Superimposed text, lyrics from the pop song "Waterloo" by ABBA, further compromises the image from its original authority and grandeur.

Falkowski and Erickson examine the art of propaganda and the propaganda of art, effectively demonstrating the positioning and posturing involved in crafting a political image. The exhibit relates the past to the present and consequently finds remarkable similarities between the mode of political address in 17th and 18th France to our own.

"The Age of Empires" is the second in a series of exhibitions by the artists that focuses on war and politics. The first, "The Age of War" was presented last year at High Energy Constructs.

Kristi Engle Gallery devotes itself primarily to solo exhibitions of new works by contemporary artists. It is located in Highland Park, near the corner of Ave. 50 and York Blvd.