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On the Wall Above

Photo: Paul Macapia

On the Wall Above

2001

Sean Landers

American, born 1962

In 2001, artist Sean Landers brazenly proclaimed: "Who will this century's Picasso be? Ladies and gentlemen it is I! I, Sean Landers, am the most significant artist of my time!" He had just completed "Dear Picasso," a series addressing Picasso's influence. In On the Wall Above, while Landers appropriates Picasso's "style," he also takes liberties: his young woman is a fusion of two female figures that appear in two of Picasso's paintings, gazing into a mirror. Here Landers replaces the mirror with a heartfelt and handwritten letter to his hero.

In 1973, the year of his death, Picasso reflected: "And painting? What will it do, painting, when I'm gone? It will probably have to walk over my dead body? It won't be able to get around it, will it?" Landers' playful response clearly reveals Picasso's undeniable legacy for a younger generation of artists.
Oil on canvas
92 x 68 in. (233.7 x 172.7cm)
Gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
2014.25.40
Provenance: [Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, New York]; purchased from gallery by Virginia and Bagley Wright, Seattle, Washington, May 12, 2001
Photo: Paul Macapia
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryNew York, New York, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Sean Landers, Apr. 12 - May 19, 2001

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, May 4, 2007- May 4, 2010
Published ReferencesIshikawa, Chiyo et al. Seattle Art Museum Downtown. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Art Museum, 2007; reproduced pp. 58, 69.

Ishikawa, Chiyo, ed. A Community of Collectors: 75th Anniversary Gifts to the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 2007, reproduced fig. 73, p. 97.

Dannatt, Adrian. "Artist’s interview, New York: Sean Landers." The Art Newspaper, No.114, May 2001; p. 80.

Upchurch, Michael. "'A daring vision': Wrights giving their art collection to SAM," in The Seattle Times, October 3, 2014, online (http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024694452_wrightcollectionsam04xml.html), reproduced.

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