Sean Landers April 16 – May 22, 1999
Main Gallery

From 1989 to 1999 I have made 25 solo art exhibitions around the world. This is my seventh solo show in New York. During these last ten years I've experienced great highs and mind-boggling lows. Many of you whose job it is to read press releases and review shows have been personally responsible for many of these highs and lows. I graciously thank you for your individual participation in my life and times thus far.

On this, the gay occasion of my tenth anniversary as an active and productive member of the international art community, I am very pleased to announce a bold new body of work. Like my last show, they are paintings from my imagination. Unlike my last show, they are not taken from specific historically significant paintings and they are written upon. These paintings are smaller, more numerous and generally surreal. The mood of them is happy which I can honestly say characterizes my mood of late. Indeed, I am enormously cheerful these days.

If I were inspired by another artist while painting these pictures it would have been "La Periode Vache" by Magritte. If you don't know of it, it was a brief period for him, specifically in and around 1948. Europe was healing from WWII and there wasn't a lot of money to be made selling paintings. Plus, Magritte, who had been shunned by Paris his whole life was finally invited to do a large exhibit there. He decided to do a 'Fuck-it' show (pardon my French) and it just so happened to be the best group of paintings he had ever done.

I have a lot less to complain about than Magritte did in 1948 but still, after my last show in NY got ripped apart by some of you, I don't mind saying that I became totally depressed and a bit disillusioned. I realized that you really can hurt me with your words and after all, I am mortal. What happened next was the greatest thing that ever happened to me as an artist. I went to my studio and painted pictures just for myself, not caring what anyone thought of them and lo and behold, the paintings were fucking great.

Anyway, that's the story of this group of paintings. Now I give them over to you, the judge and jury, but somehow I think if you all pan me again I won't care as much this time.

-Sean Landers