Blue Star Contemporary Art Center

GALLERY 4

12.02.2005 - 01.01.2006

Marcia Gygli Kings latest body of painting is called the "Culture Series". A painter of her own time, she uses allegorical medieval figures to depict the excesses of contemporary American life. In a process she calls "once removed painting" seductive paint passages, articulated brush strokes and punctuations create an "over the top" expression of her despair at a culture which seemingly operates outside of reason.

The history of social satire in painting and the visual arts is rich. King's painting The Family implies the steady downfall of these dysfunctional people not unlike Hothgarth's The Rakes Progress (1743 - 45). In Advertising a figure with an histronic gesture persuades a dinner to eat to excess. The characters are worthy of Daumier (1808 - 79) in his fearless political cartoons.

Television shows the mythical king Cronus devouring his children while the windows in the castle behind him represent blank television screens. This painting is an allegorical comment on the passive babysitter - television, which destroys the active creative thought processes for American children.

Similarly, one of Goya's most famous satirical paintings is "Saturn devouring his sons (1820 22) this monstrous incestuous cannibalism comments on a world unchecked by moral force."* Marcia Gygli King uses a world of imagination but her message is as threatening as that of Goya.

* Sayre, Henry; The World of Art, 1997.