Leonard Greco: Fairyland
44857 Cedar Avenue
Saturday, February 23 at 4:00 PM 8:00 PM
Ends Mar 31, 2019
This recent body of work called Fairyland has a definite camp sensibility (not dissimilar to the theatrical confections of Cecil Beaton in the 1920s). Camp, having been described as the lie that tells the truth, is an innate language Greco had been reticent to explore until recently. He believes it was perhaps internalized homophobia that had left him hesitant to make work so boldly queer — in every sense of the word — making art so openly flamboyant. Purposely stamped with informed wit and a wry knowing humor, this new work is first and foremost intended to visually delight and be taken seriously . Among other things, it touches on the weighty tableau of the Temptation of St. Anthony of the Desert and the perilous trials of Herakles. Greco’s aesthetic expression is influenced by his instinctive inclination to lighten somber, somewhat ponderous, existential themes with a gay touch (consciously using this word in both its current identity-laden fraught understanding and the anachronistic yet more delightful sense). While the work possesses decidedly camp sensibilities it is never ironic as is so often the current fashion. Greco finds irony frequently cynical; his work is never cynical for no other reason than the inherent affection he holds for my motley crew of heroes, saints and sinners.