John DeAndrea
Jennifer, 1996, polyvinyl, oil
paint, natural hair, life-size
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david ebony's
new york top ten
john deandrea
at ok harris
Apr. 5- 26, 1997
Undisturbed by the cacophony of
passing trends, John DeAndrea
continues his exploration of
perfection. His idea of perfection
is the female nude, and the six
recent works on view in this show
are flawless realizations of his
vision. His meticulously detailed
life-size sculptures are made of
polyvinyl, oil paint and human
hair. Of the four single figures,
a standing blond holding a cloth
is the most eerily lifelike. A
Mother and Child piece is perhaps
less so, but it has a certain
warmth and charm that one doesn't
usually associate with DeAndrea's
icy ladies. A pair of dark-skinned
young women embracing is probably
the most sensuous of the works on
display, although I think critics
have over-emphasized the sensuous
aspects of DeAndrea's work.
I feel that the artist aims for a
kind of perfection in his work
that is directly related to
Classical Greek sculpture. This is
one of the reasons why he was
Dalí's favorite contemporary
sculptor. It is also what
separates DeAndrea's art from the
more American culture-specific
images of Duane Hanson, the super-
realist sculptor whose passing has
left DeAndrea in the forefront of
the genre.
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