Deron Leutenegger
"I was raised on comic books, Saturday morning cartoons and sugary cereal. The artwork on the boxes was just as good as the food inside. I managed to pass art history classes with late night cram sessions and short term memorization techniques. The best thing about having to take notes is that I had uninterrupted time to fill in the margins with random illustrations.
I have always paid attention to and enjoyed popular culture. For everything from movies and T.V., to books, technology, and album art, I am a consumer and I do pick favorites. My paintings, through their combinations of seemingly unrelated parts, are my homage to art history and popular culture." - Deron Leutenegger
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Bonus Material
The Popomaggio Paintings are my homage to art history and pop culture. Influences range from Vermeer, Klimt and Kahlo, to video games, disco and David Bowie.
Before Popomaggio, the use of a being who can take on human characteristics began in another series of works based on a system for public speaking called elocution, and continued in a short series of works based on cable news commentators.
The detached or expressionless faces on these beings were purposeful. They were meant to communicate a, "What exactly am I doing here feeling".
The Pre-History of Popommagio
The Popomaggio works are of this same being, but to give them more expressive qualities and to represent them as female they needed a mouth... but how?
After consideration, I went with the idea that if they don't have a mouth of their own, they would have to give themselves one. It is with this in mind that the viewer is presented with a character dressed in and pictured with homages to art history and popular culture.... and with a pasted on mouth.
