Lotophage, L'Éternel Recommencement and Skull, (Triptych) by Hunter & Gatti
From "Live Forever" Series
Acrylic and oil pastel on Pigment Print
Overall Image size: Image size: 76 cm. H x 183 cm. W


Individual size:
Image size: 76 cm. H x 61 cm. W
One of a Kind

In LIVE FOREVER, the all-new series of acrylic and oil pastel on pigment print, Hunter & Gatti engage with the discursive and artistic discoveries of two major pillars of contemporary art. We find Basquiat’s schematic but deeply striking iconography, together with a Warholian study of the mechanical reproduction of an image, where each singular reproduction is made unique by its intervention in paint.

The artists take special interest in Basquiat's strive for definitive self-assertion, which is paradoxically only achieved through a constant deconstruction and colorful exploration of the self—this duality, apparent also in the material condition of the work, is the guiding motif through Live Forever by Hunter & Gatti.

Identity is not a fixed given, as much as it is a constantly re-interpreted and re-framed question. In some cases, one performs one's own identity—in others, one’s identity is defined by the on-looker, the mass audience, or the portrait taker or artist, who can project onto the subject a labyrinth of given and made-up identities. When done with respect and admiration the artists owe their subject as in this case, identity becomes a playful negotiation. Each unique piece of this series captures one successful moment of communication between the artist and their subject.

A black and white portrait of larger-than-life pop-star and cultural guru Pharrell Williams is the common denominator, or base, which, through repetition and intervention, becomes a fluid work: never fully completed, but always in transition. The inquiring nature and inconclusiveness of the works is itself a metaphor for the complex concept of identity, which the artists are interested in questioning. We can see how the subject's identity can be mutated and toyed with, without this change diminishing the weight of his presence, undoubtedly central throughout the series.