Anna Kustera, New York

May 16 - July 31, 2009

Stuart Semple’s photo based vignettes of figures caught in poignant moments are reminiscent of Warhol’s “Death and Disaster” series; however, they are rendered by hand in black and white on white backgrounds along with snippets of architecture, digitalized abstractions and flashes of color.

There are three canvases, each roughly six-feet square, which depict figures responding to various tragic circumstances. Angelus (2009) borrows compositional elements and its title from a painting by nineteenth-century master Jean-Francois Millet. Semple’s version portrays a car crash in Los Angeles. In the gallery’s front area, Let Forever Be (2008-2009) resembles a crucified female vampire in front of an upside down sylvan scene with the word “FOREVER” in a mock-creepy horror movie font emblazoned over the imagery. In the main space a model house painted shiny black crushes a life sized female mannequin, its feet sporting designer shoes. And, an installation of a suspended crucifix, two rondos, and splatters on the floor titled Heaven Help Me For The Way I Am (2008-2009) works the automobile accident theme again.

Semple conjoins catchy illustrative style with graphic allusions to current society. The resulting pastiche is a trendy, cultish, Punk Rock redux that reads somewhere between film noir, circus posters, and a fast paced paperback novel.