Paris, France: von ammon co is pleased to present a two-person project by Dinos Chapman and Jason Yates. Aesthetic difference between the works of the two artists gives way to thematic unity. A delicate warp and weft of chitz and malice conjures an incipient brutality under a saccharine surface.

 

Dinos Chapman will present a selection of six works from his Disastrous Moments, a rework of Goya’s The Disasters of War (1810-1820). Improving a mint, original set of etchings with drawings of Precious Moments figurines, Chapman adds a cloying sentimentality to the savagery and barbarism of Goya’s treatments. Kittens on unicorns smile ethereally over snarling coyotes tearing into a workhorse; disinterested cherubs build a snowman over an emaciated family pleading for mercy. The artist is over-the-top and grotesque both technically and conceptually, pointing out the core contradiction of Goya’s gleefully vicious handling of the subject matter. Chapman will also present Nothing good can come of this, revisions of two original Victorian paintings. Pockmarked skin and blackened eyes evoke maggot-laden meat and overgrown mold on months-old bread. Masterfully working over genuines, Chapman casts nameless aristocrats as decaying wretches, commenting on identity, time, and vanity in a repressive society, again with trademark irreverence.

 

Jason Yates will present a suite of works from his Fleurs du Mal series. Yates’s drawings, rendered in graphite and india ink, explore the shifting and personal lines surrounding sexual desire and greed, want and harm. Beneath the blocky, childlike forms and rough penmanship of the Fleurs lies a sinister and delicate malediction waiting to be unraveled. The flowers recall a distinctly Southern California miasma: at the heart of American glamor lies a morass, an inviting sludge, an open but concealing grave.

 

von ammon co was founded in 2019 in its current location in Georgetown. Gallery hours are 12-6pm Saturday and Sunday and by appointment. For more information and image requests, please email info@vonammon.co