PAINTING ABOUT SEX, FLESH AND VIOLENCE, LOL

28.06.2013 00:00:00 - 20.07.2013

“My painting is not violent; it’s life that is violent. I have endured physical violence, I have even had my teeth broken. Sexuality, human emotion, flesh, everyday life, personal humiliation ― you only have to look online* ―violence is part of human nature.” - Francis Bacon * It is highly unlikely that Francis Bacon mentioned the internet in this interview, bearing in mind that he died in the early 90's.

DIVUS London are proud to present PAINTING ABOUT SEX, FLESH AND VIOLENCE, LOL - a two man show bringing together new work from Jwan Yosef and Konstanty Czartoryski exploring themes of, well, y'know; sex, flesh and violence.

Konstanty Czartoryski mixes and layers and squeezes together familiar objects and images to form a visual language that screams hysterically and drools on itself. His paintings are busy, eccentric and pornographic without actually showing any exciting bits. Czartoryski's artistic practice combines painting, sculpture and drawing with a prevailing unreadiness to commit or be confined to one specific medium (typical contemporary male commitmentphobe).

In contrast Jwan Yosef's paintings are slick and smooth - you can almost see traces of hairwax in the brushstrokes. Working exclusively with oil on perspex with images culled from internet and mass media sources Yosef's paintings work like subconsciously recorded scenes from an unknown yet familiar film caught between frames. (A sexy film. The kind of film you watch alone).

One can come and deliberate on the relationship between sexual identity and painting today. Don't expect anyone to give a shit though. This isn't the 50's man. Nevertheless there is something untranslatable in smearing wet things onto dry things that makes it ultimately satisfying and worthwhile.

And these two hunks are good at it.