Chris Gollon
Rembrandt Lookalike , 1999
Acrylic on canvas, 1999. Unframed: 18" x 14" (46 x 35.5cm). Framed dimensions below.
26 x 22 in
66 x 56 cm
66 x 56 cm
Copyright The Artist
This painting comes from a very unique series of 12 paintings from 1999, all heads. Chris Gollon had been invited to an exclusive event at the Hayward Gallery, where to...
This painting comes from a very unique series of 12 paintings from 1999, all heads. Chris Gollon had been invited to an exclusive event at the Hayward Gallery, where to his surprise, part of the entertainment was a David Beckham lookalike and a Tony Blair lookalike, mingling in the crowd. They were very good.
The art historian Mary Rose Beaumont remarked early on that Chris Gollon "had a fine sense of the ridiculous". Gollon was very taken with thinking about what it might be like to make your living pretending to be someone else. He decided to add another level of absurdity, by painting a series of figures trying to make a living by being Rembrandt lookalikes. These comi-tragic figures were both very close to Rembrandt's paintings, but also very much Gollon's own rogues' gallery of pretenders. They almost take us in as Rembrandts, but then you just about see another soul trying to be him.
The art historian Mary Rose Beaumont remarked early on that Chris Gollon "had a fine sense of the ridiculous". Gollon was very taken with thinking about what it might be like to make your living pretending to be someone else. He decided to add another level of absurdity, by painting a series of figures trying to make a living by being Rembrandt lookalikes. These comi-tragic figures were both very close to Rembrandt's paintings, but also very much Gollon's own rogues' gallery of pretenders. They almost take us in as Rembrandts, but then you just about see another soul trying to be him.