Savant

About

Using the precisioned techniques of Old Master painters and sculptors, Savant presents the works of 7 artists that derisively confront the contemporary art world with some of the most bizarre images a twisted mind can conjure.à‚  Highly trained in media ranging from oil paint to resin, each artist has gone through the motions to fully understand the rules of artistic mastery, so that they now know how best to break them. Hailing from Canada, the Czech Republic, Norway, and the United Kingdom, Savant showcases these artists together for the first time, revealing what has been coined as ‘New Gothic Art' in its prime. Extremely subversive, often offensive, 'idiotic' art has been, until now, lightly trodden territory, particularly in the politically-correct western world. Curated by artist Joe Becker, Savant's subject matter lives up to its word, promising to make your eyes pus and your jaw drop off completely.à‚  Joe Becker is a Toronto-based artist and graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design. Becker's classical approach to image making, developed in his final year, expresses a love for outmoded techniques and aesthetics, with an emphasis on the craftsmanship of the old masters in palette and in the richness of imagery. The dreamy ambiguity of the weary figures is fused with both his bizarre sense of humor and childhood memories, and create the core of his playful yet twisted universe. Becker has exhibited his work in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Leipzig, Madrid, Dusseldorf, London, and Toronto. Admittedly, Rory Dean's philosophy is somewhat akin to a pregnant teenager on Maury Povich announcing: You don't know me. I do what I want!" à‚ Although that is not entirely reflective of his artistic goals, it is a point of view that informs Dean's everyday practice in regard to making paintings. Dean makes what he wants and worries about what it means when it's finished. Influenced by 17th Century Dutch painting, Northern Renaissance artists and a plethora of cult-socialist documentaries, Dean's own work appropriates art historical and reference material to combine a (mostly) anachronistic series of images.