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Jim Shaw

1952, Midland, US
He lives and works in Los Angeles, USA

site-specific | permanent artwork

The Alexander Romances

2024
Acrylic on a muslin backdrop,  acrylic on wood panels, and decorative wood molding

An artist with an encyclopedic, chaotic, and schizoid body  of work inspired by Burroughs’ cut-up method, Shaw blurs  the lines between the mainstream and the underground,  mingling TV, comics, the Bible, horror films, heavy metal,  gore, punk, and psychedelia. A hypertrophic panorama of  themes is conveyed through an equally heterogeneous  mix of styles and visual languages, always seeking a  reasonable correspondence between technique and  narrative content. 

Taking inspiration from the myth of Alexander the Great,  Jim Shaw produced a painting for the ceiling of Palazzo  Diedo depicting Alexander’s anointment as the son of  the God Amun in the temple at the Siwa Oasis, using an  old Egyptian theater set canvas as the base. The central  image, where his hyperrealist style overlaps with the  original backdrop of the canvas, is surrounded by a frame  of grotesques rich in symbols reminiscent of Bruegel.  These symbols represent the mean and fantastical  creatures that Alexander the Great during his quest to conquer the world.

Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery

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Other artworks by the artist - LINK

Photos by Massimo Pistore and Matteo Catania - Hubove Studio. Courtesy of Palazzo Diedo

Palazzo Diedo
Berggruen
Arts & Culture

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+39.041.0980227
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Fondamenta Diedo
Cannaregio 2386
30121 Venezia