HONEY BUNNY: New Paintings by Marc Dennis

November 7, 2011 | Author LDWT

“There wasn’t a clear, identifiable emotion within me, except for greed and, possibly, total disgust. I had all the characteristics of a human being – flesh, blood, skin, hair – but my depersonalization was so intense, had gone so deep, that the normal ability to feel compassion had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating reality, a rough resemblance of a human being, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning. Something horrible was happening and yet I couldn’t figure out why. I couldn’t put my finger on it” (Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho, 1991)

Brooklyn based painter, Marc Dennis likes to dissect reality, ascribing power, attraction and sublimity to things we barely understand. At first sight, Honey Bunny, a collection of his latest dark hyper-realist paintings, could be a landscape view of the fictional universe described in Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho. The artist put his impressive technical virtuosity at the service of a human reflection on time, death and beauty in its highest aesthetic richness. Nevertheless, his whole artistic universe, and every single part of it, may have multiple meanings packed into a single signifier. The gun, for instance, is traditionally considered a symbol of supremacy, repression, violence. In Dennis’ post-modern paintings, there are no dangerous weapons. There’s no direct evidence of violence running through those canvas. The artist brilliantly incorporates symbolism and contemporary American culture imagery to express shady depths of inner peace, quiet and pure contemplation. The juxtaposition of light and dark, of past and present, of tenderness and austerity extensively captures the spirit of the gentleness of brightly-lit pets and objects surrounded by a surreal, soft, warm and inviting space.

First Photo Credit: Honey Bunny, 2010, Oil on canvas, 28 x 28 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

I Love You – You Love Me, 2011, Oil on canvas mounted on panel 12 x 12 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Biggy Kitty, 2011, Oil on canvas 38 x 58 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Teatime, 2011, Oil on canvas 26 x 26 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Little Ways, 2011, Oil on canvas 30 x 30 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Love You Too, 2011, Oil on linen 36 x 48 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Dragonslayer, 2011, Oil on canvas 24 x 38 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Divine Love, 2011, Oil on canvas mounted on panel 12 x 12 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Despite the stillness represented, his powerful paintings are decidedly realistic, naturalistic,sensual and emotionally alive. Today my intentions are to make hyper-naturalistic, highly detailed and obsessively delineated paintings that explore the subversive potential of beauty distilling something otherworldly from within the realm of nature (Marc Dennis). These words, combined with the artist’s incredible iconographic research, take the viewer back to Caravaggio, Velásquez, Rubens, Robert Rauschenberg, Rembrandt, Goya, Koons, Bellini and Manet.

Art History, 2010, Oil on canvas 36 x 48 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Bedtime, 2011, Oil on canvas 16 x 16 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

American Woman, 2011, Oil on canvas 58 x 48 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Kingdom Come, 2011, Oil on canvas 68 x 80 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Tiny One, 2011, Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 inches. Courtesy of Marc Dennis / Hasted Kraeutler

Marc Dennis was born in Danvers, in 1964. Today, he lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and Ithaca, NY. The artist is also an entomophagist, otherwise known as someone who consumes insects as a food. In 2008 he founded Insects Are Food. We highly suggest you to check it out, for more details head over to Marc Dennis’ official website.

Honey Bunny by Marc Dennis is currently on display at Hasted Kraeutler in New York through December 3.