As in (after Portrait of Runuccio Farnese by Titian)
38 x 30cm From the ‘Plaster’ series (2011-2015)ART DESCRIPTION
This beautiful, sky blue study is one of the only work from the ‘Plaster’ series which is painted in acrylic. The composition is taken from Titian’s Portrait of Runnucio Farnese of 1542, a portrait of a young man that fascinated Kamen. The young man, the son of the fourth Duke of Parma, is dressed in an incredibly intricate manner, with all possible riches displayed on his clothing, but with a sweet and childlike smile. Kamen admired the style of Renaissance dress, often emulating it in his work and his styling.
The plaster motif is very important to Kamen’s work and appears in many forms over time. Initially, the plaster is painted onto the surface using acrylic, becoming a kind of visual signature (rather like the crown in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work). In 2011 Kamen has a ‘joyful realisation’ that the adhesive plaster itself is a mini canvas. He then begins to paint and draw onto the plasters themselves, creating these miniature paintings. A kaleidoscope of human history and existential wanderings, the motifs vary from historical and political figures, to mushroom cloud formations, to the packaging of an Amazon parcel draped liked a Papal robe. Not only the incredible draftsmanship of these miniature paintings, but Kamen’s ability to find the timeless that exists between the historical and the contemporary, and pull it all into the present, makes this series extraordinary.
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