Cain Schulte Gallery Berlin
Winterfeldtstr. 35, 10781 Berlin
19 November 2009 to 19 December 2009
Opening: 19 November 2009, 7 pm

Chris Leib: Becoming Worthwhile, oil paintings and drawings

Taking the title from an advertisement for cosmetic surgery, Becoming Worthwhile features a series of paintings portraying the self-perceived flaws of my sitters and their improvised solutions. Desired cosmetic remedies are reconstituted with commonplace materials like string, tape and wigs to function as disguises and crude restraints. These 'remedies' allude to standards of self-worth that are both constrictive and murky: the hidden costs of erotic capital improvements.

The sitter’s makeshift solutions are as revealing as their perception of what is broken. The unusual application of these materials blurs the subtle line between portrait and narrative, alluding to, yet leaving ambiguous a greater narration of the sitter. By infusing each portrait with as few 'props' as possible, I explore how far I can cross over into narrative yet remain in the realm of portraiture.

Event blog: leibstudio.blogspot.com
Teaching blog: leibart.blogspot.com