The 1930s and 1940s are some of the subjects of Geoffrey Gersten’s new show at Altamira Fine Art in Scottsdale, Arizona. The show, titled Americanarama, will draw from imagery from vintage magazines, movie studio press stills and advertising.
“Geoffrey Gersten’s paintings combine elements of both Americana and Pop Art,” says Stacy Barr, an art consultant at the gallery. “Geoffrey has blended these two styles to create works that evoke a sense of nostalgia and celebrate iconic American imagery with precision and detail.”
American Girl, oil on canvas, 60 x 48"
In one of the new works, American Girl, which shows a model balancing on a fence amid a field of Gersten’s trademark dots, the artist was inspired by a Paramount Studios press still from the 1940s. What excited him about the image was the model’s more casual expression and seemingly unrehearsed pose.
“There is something sweetly American about her vibe…I just love the way everything looked back then. The irony of it all is that mass marketing is what changed how everything looked, from billboards to magazines to clothing and advertising,” he says, adding that he layered the signage from the Beverly Hills Hotel onto the painting to signify the “penultimate posh Americana” of the time period. “As everything changed, it all became very different. Ads were shot in homes that cost millions of dollars. There were only like 17 people reading the magazine who could afford that home. The images were more glamourous and perfect. But I have been looking at a lot of Slim Aaron’s photography and everything wasn’t perfect back them. There was dirt and weeds. That’s the look I was going toward.”
Fontainebleau Sand, oil on canvas, 72 x 36"
On the subject of the Beverly Hills Hotel, Gersten says he was tempted to stay there several years ago when he was in Los Angeles for an art show, but felt that $3,000 or $4,000 a night for a hotel was a little steep. “Looking back, I regret it. It would have been fun,” he says. “It’s very hard to book a room there. They use a color-coded card system for guests. Working-class people get one color, celebrities get another, and presidents other important people get another. But presidents are ranked lower than celebrities. A president can stay there and won’t stay in the nicest room.”
Hollywood Summer, oil on canvas, 56 x 56"
These sorts of discrepancies with wealth, class and beauty form the key juxtapositions in Gersten’s artwork, which relies on Americana of the past, along with the modernist touches of the future, to coalesce into his creative output.
Gersten’s show opens January 2 at Altamira Fine Art in Scottsdale. —
Altamira Fine Art 7038 E. Main Street • Scottsdale, AZ 85251 • (480) 949-1256 • www.altamiraart.com
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