Sean Landers February 27 – April 3, 2004
Main Gallery

Andrea Rosen Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by gallery artist Sean Landers. The constant torrent of words that characterized Landers' first word paintings has been transformed into a multi-colored echo chamber, a visual representation of the thoughts banging around inside his head. As always with Landers' work, self-parody and sincerity are inextricably intertwined. Viewers familiar with his earlier text works will recognize his trademark statements of grandiose artistic aspiration alongside those of utter despair. This relentless inner monologue, representative of the mental process of making art, has been a constant subject of the artist's work since his first solo exhibitions in New York in the early 1990's. It is the truthfulness of what Landers depicts and the uncomfortable yet humorous familiarity of his words that give these works their resonant power.

The honesty that characterizes Landers' language also manifests itself in his animal/human portraits and sculptures. While the text pieces are clearly addressed to an art world audience, these works express an almost innocent relationship to art-making. Landers has commented on the fact that he makes these works for his immediate audience, which is often himself and his four-year-old daughter. Each figure is uniquely imagined and fully formed – they seem as familiar and as fantastic as characters in a well-known fairy tale. Without regard for history or theory, these works nakedly display the joy Landers takes in being an artist.


Sean Landers was born in Palmer, Massachusetts, in 1962. He received a BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1984 and an MFA from Yale University School of Art in 1986. The Zurich Kunsthalle will present a one-person exhibition of his work in August. A comprehensive catalogue will accompany the exhibition.