A Splinter (Study for Painting)
2010 - Drawing & Print (Drawing & Print)
45 x 33 inches
Hernan Bas
A Splinter (Study for Painting) is a large graphite work on paper by Hernan Bas that was intended as a study for a later painting. The composition features three unfinished figures, all of whom appear to be observing something unrendered or external to the picture plane. Around the group of figures roughly framed by the outline of a triangle, is a frenzy of loose marks and smudged lines that juxtapose the delicate features of the figures’ faces. Though aesthetically grounded in the iconography of the androgynous male dandy, the young protagonists of Bas’s oneiric visions are usually portrayed alone or in small groups, in attitudes of pure flânerie. Appearing as if suspended between adolescence and adulthood, Bas’s figures embody a fragile in-between state that the artist refers to as “fag limbo”. A Splinter portrays a fragment of this temporal space described by Bas, which acts as a psychic purgatory of sorts for young queer men.
Hernan Bas creates expressionistic, yet highly detailed figurative paintings of young men. Though aesthetically grounded in the iconography of the androgynous male dandy, the young protagonists of Bas’s oneiric visions are usually portrayed alone or in small groups, in attitudes of pure flânerie. Whether confined to the intimacy of a genre scene or lost in the vertigo of a lush romantic landscape, his figures inhabit a fantasized world of implicit eroticism and ambiguous sensuality. Largely inspired by nineteenth-century decadent art and literature, Bas’s work also references the concurrent symbolist and decorative style of the French group Les Nabis. With a flamboyant palette and a refined touch, Bas revisits and reinterprets the various categories of classical painting from a homoerotic perspective that is seemingly melancholic, yet often humorous and witty.
Colors:
Related works of genres: » 21st-century american painters, » gay artists
» see more
© » KADIST
Mark Bradford
2012This untitled work from 2012 is a print originally made as part of the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art’s artist limited edition series...
© » KADIST
Stephen Beal
2010Beau Soleil #7 ’s title (translated as Beautiful Sun) gives a good sense of its effect...
© » KADIST
Peter Hujar
1975Susan Sontag, the author of On Photography and Regarding the Pain of Others, was captured through Hujar’s now-iconic photograph in a relaxed yet pensive pose...
© » KADIST
Félix González-Torres
1992Behind the simplicity and beauty of this untitled photograph of a brilliantly-colored flowerbed by Félix González-Torres are two remarkable stories of love, loss, and resilience...
Other related works, blended automatically
» see more
© » ARTOBSERVED
Hernan Bas
Hernan Bas’s recent works, particularly his series “The Conceptualists,” showcase his continued exploration into the realms of queerness, desire, the occult, and the absurd...
Related works sharing similar palette
» see more
© » KADIST
Allora & Calzadilla
2004This series of photographs is part of the body of work Allora & Calzadilla made regarding the situation in Vieques, an island off the mainland of Puerto Rico used for the 60 years by the U...
© » ART & OBJECT
The Top Art Exhibitions of 2023 | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...
Other works by: » Hernan Bas
» see more
© » ARTOBSERVED
Hernan Bas
Hernan Bas’s recent works, particularly his series “The Conceptualists,” showcase his continued exploration into the realms of queerness, desire, the occult, and the absurd...
Related artist(s) to: Hernan Bas » Dorothy Cross, » Guy Ben-Ner, » Alan Davie, » Alex Bag, » Alex Farquharson, » Alfred Wallis, » Ana Mendieta, » Andrea Mantegna, » Angela Cockayne, » Ashley Bickerton
» see more
Related works found in the same semantic group
» see more
© » KADIST
Steffani Jemison
In Escaped Lunatic , a steady stream of figures run across the screen, sprinting, jumping, and rolling through the streets of Houston...
© » KADIST
Ruby Sky Stiler
2015The depiction of the female figure in the sculptures remains an economic, canny composition of geometric abstractions in a Modernist spirit...
© » KADIST
James "Yaya" Hough
2016This untitled ink and pencil drawing by James “Yaya” Hough is made on what the artist calls “institutional paper”, or the state-issued forms that monitor the daily activities of prisoners, of which, each detainee is generally required to fill out in triplicate...