Wes Hempel Portrait Paintings
American, b. 1953
The twelve paintings in the exhibition are imaginary film stills based on on a Science Fiction screenplay, titled Regression, that was supposedly developed in the 1950s. The film was never made and, to Hempel’s knowledge, none of the script survived.
As Hempel tells the story, a crew of astronauts travel to an exoplanet with a tropical Earth-like atmosphere and immediately get separated from each other when they set out to explore. Isolated, they start to rapidly grow younger. Wading in the water seems to slow the regression process. It is later revealed that the planet is a sentient life form that is purposefully regressing them as it can only communicate with minds that are free of dishonesty and aggression. By returning the astronauts to innocence, the planet hopes to establish contact. Constructed from memory, these paintings are Hempel’s musings on what the film might have looked like. There is a playfulness and and absurdity to the paintings. A spaceship hangs over the Hollywood sign next to two dramatically singular palm trees. The figures pose like 1950s film stars in the water while ships loom over their heads and steep cliffs rise behind them. Painted at an intimate scale ranging from 16x16 inches to 20x30 inches, the paintings draw on Hempel’s well-known practice of commenting on assumed narratives of masculinity in art and popular culture and the lack of representation of gay men.
The figures are shirtless and seemingly unaware of the viewer but on a mission. Expressions of concern cross some of their faces while others are lost in thought - a surreal battalion of statuesque young men. Hempel is turning the pop culture trope of half dressed beautiful women on its head and depicting beautiful men in these paintings. With the lost film script as the framework, Hempel uses his immense technical skill to deftly recontextualize the male figure.
Wes Hempel’s paintings forge a provocative dialogue between past and present - asking us to consider the ways in which the dominant narratives depicted in art and pop culture have presented a single viewpoint and lacked significantly in representation.
Wes Hempel was born in El Monte, CA, in 1953. He received his BA from Cal State Northridge in 1985 and his MA from UC Boulder in 1988. He has exhibited extensively throughout the US since 1987 and his paintings are included in numerous private and public collections including the Denver Art Museum, Microsoft Art Collection, and the New Britain Museum of American Art (CT), among others. He lives and work in Colorado.to
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Artist: Wes Hempel
Page 207 (Van Dyck Series)
By Wes Hempel
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA -- For decades, Wes Hempel has been committed to re-envisioning the depiction of masculinity in contemporary art. By setting psychologically acute portraits of modern-day men against backdrops appropriated from such disparate sources as neoclassical history...
Category
2010s American Realist Wes Hempel Portrait Paintings
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
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Wes Hempel portrait paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Wes Hempel portrait paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Wes Hempel in mixed media, paper and more. Not every interior allows for large Wes Hempel portrait paintings, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Linda Delahaye, Genevieve May, and Raymond Logan. Wes Hempel portrait paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $2,800 and tops out at $2,800, while the average work can sell for $2,800.