Simen Johan’s stunning image of sea lions (seen here in detail) has the creatures rising to the right in a digitally manipulated crescendo of activity. The composition and atmospheric background recalls Gericault’s famously dramatic 19th century shipwreck scene, ‘The Raft of the Medusa,’ though it is animals that embody intense emotion. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 10th).
Late German artist Martin Kippenberger stepped into the role of the living, dying, hopeful and lost by portraying different characters from Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa in his 1996 series of paintings and these photos, shot by his wife Elfie Semotan. (At Skarstedt Gallery, Upper East Side, through April 26th).
Martin Kippenberger, photographs by Elfie Semotan, installation view of ‘Raft of the Medusa’ at Skarstedt Gallery, April 2014.
