TIMOTHY GREENFIELD-SANDERS
XXX 30 PORN-STAR PORTRAITS


Curator: Demetrio Paparoni

29 Sept - 5 Dec 2005
Reception with artist Thur 29 Sept 18.00

Opening during art weekend in Milan, Friday 7 October

Hours: Mon-Fri 11.00-19.00, Saturday by appt.
Special hours 7 October 12-21, 8-9 October 12.00-20.00


Galleria Paolo Curti/Annamaria Gambuzzi & Co. is proud to announce the exhibition by the American artist Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, starting on Thur 29 Sept at via Pontaccio 19, Milan with a reception with the artist. The official opening will be on Fri 7 Oct from 12 to 21 on the occasion of the art week end in Milan START. The show is curated by Demetrio Paparoni, author of the official monograph on the artist (ACS Editore), which also contains an introduction by Francesco Clemente.

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (1952 Miami Beach, Florida – lives and works in New York) is well-known for his portraits of personalities from the worlds of art, fashion, entertainment, sports and politics.
Though many of his subjects are famous, the focus is more on individual talent than on celebrity for its own sake. All the work of Greenfield-Sanders stems from an intention to create a sort of Encyclopédie of the contemporary world.

The exhibition by Greenfield-Sanders at Galleria Paolo Curti/Annamaria Gambuzzi & Co. features works from the most recent cycle, entitled XXX 30 Porn Star Portraits, gathered in a major monographic volume published by Bulfinch Press, a division of Time Warner.

XXX 30 Porn Star Portraits contains texts by intellectuals like Gore Vidal (the preface), Nancy Fiday, JT Leroy, John Malkovich, Lou Reed, Salman Rushdie, John Waters. On the same theme of pornostars Greenfield-Sanders has also created a DVD, “Thinking XXX” (produced by HBO, the same network as Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire) and a music CD “XXX: Music from Thinking XXX” (the soundtrack from the film that includes, among others, tracks by Peaches, Ladytron, Mylo, Moderato and Lou Reed).

The cycle XXX 30 Porn Star Portraits features portraits of American porn stars shown in two different shots, one in the nude and one with clothing. Otherwise the two images are absolutely identical in terms of proportions, pose, expression, color of the monochrome backdrop. The classic reference to the famous work by Goya La Maja Vestida/La Maja Desnuda is clearly evident. What is striking about these portraits is the proud composure of the subjects, presented in life-size prints in the exhibition. The diptychs are made in two sizes: 50.8 x 81 cm in an edition of six multiples, and 147 x 223 cm in editions of three.

XXX (which represents the number of subjects photographed, in Roman numerals) stands for triple X-rated. The artist was interested in the dignity of these actors in private life, and their talent for expression using the body. Consistent with the idea of a creating an Encylopédie of the contemporary world, Greenfield-Sanders has including different typologies in his personal catalogue of erotic icons: the blond, the brunette, the gay man, the lesbian, the bisexual, the heterosexual, the black man, the black woman, the Asian. But in spite of the theoretical foundation of this work, in terms of aesthetics and formal quality the images of Greenfield-Sanders have been created more for the walls of a gallery than for the files of a CD-ROM.
A large diptych from the XXX series has already become part of the collection of the Guggenheim Museum, and another large diptych has been acquired for the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum of Los Angeles.
The artist will be present at the opening.