ART DESCRIPTION
This small portrait of John Cassavetes, actor and pioneering director of independent filmmaking, is from the ‘Plaster’ series of 2011-2015, a progression from Kamen’s earlier work in portraiture. In this series, Kamen uses an adhesive plaster as a miniature canvas, producing these small and exquisite portraits. Kamen was very influenced by film and greatly admired the work of Cassavetes, hence the word play ‘be as’ expressing his admiration.
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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