Charles Lutz

Born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1982, Charles Lutz attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York where he began working through the themes of commerce, luxury, and the Contemporary Art market. He initially worked with the artists Jeff Koons and McDermott & McGough and was involved with projects for Surface Magazine, Time Out New York, and the Terminal 5 exhibition at JFK International.

Lutz's newest and most ambitious series to date, Sold, consists of 20 paintings which critique as well as herald the Contemporary Art market. Focusing primarily on Contemporary Art at auction, Lutz looks at the influence of theater, hype and most of all, art world cache and the effect they have on the art market. The works of the series are based on the designs of 19th Century gilded French porcelain, which refers to an aristocracy, a select class of persons who were able to afford these meticulously crafted objects of luxury which were considered status symbols of their time, much like contemporary works of art are today.

The Denial and Acceptance series by Charles Lutz is a commentary on the easily reproducible aspect of Warhol’s work and the dilemmas that this incurs. The series forces the viewer to look at works that are copies of Warhol’s work and ask themselves amongst other things, is this art? What is art? What is authorship? Is it possible to make conceptual art from something that was already considered art in another context? When looking at Warhol’s work, largely we are looking at reproductions of existing images that have been intended for mass-reproduction and consumption. Warhol and the pop art movement took the everyday banal images of a culture and raised them to the level of fine art. In our current culture these images have come full circle. Warhol’s Marilyn, Campbell’s soup cans, and Elvis, appear on clothing, bags, snowboards, and countless other products as mere decoration. The series Denial and Acceptance brings “Warhol’s work” back into the realm of high art, while also challenging authenticity issues and questioning the artist’s original intent.

Though these works are replications of Warhol’s work, they are symbols of Lutz’s concept and represent his own commentary on authentication, reproduction and popular culture. The Denial and Acceptance series by Charles Lutz puts the question of its own validity in the viewer’s hands. It mocks authenticity, yet relies on an authenticating body for its creation.

(Excerpts taken from Charles Lutz Statement - warholdenied.com)

Hawk (Tobias Meyer) 2007
Enamel and 23kt gold over panel
38 x 38cm

Christ, 2007
Oil, enamel and gold over panel
63.7 x 63.75cm

Two Birds, 2007
Oil, enamel and gold over panel
29.37 x 29.37cm