“Jim Shaw: Hope Against Hope” at Simon Lee Gallery
Through January 16, 2021
What the gallery says: “Shaw has never been one to shy away from provocation: the artist boldly imagines Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, and his wife, Melania, descending an escalator into Dante’s Ninth Circle of Hell to find a group of traitors, some of them discarded former aides, frozen alongside Satan in a sea of ice. Shaw’s monsters and villains, whether real or fictional, are larger than life; ultimately, these paintings convey a sense of vicissitude that is reflective of the country’s ever-shifting sociopolitical landscape.”
Why it’s worth a look: With less than a week until election day in the United States, Los Angeles-based artist Jim Shaw has conjured a fantastical landscape awash with trolls and antiheroes, many targeted at Donald Trump and his cronies. Shaw is a collector of images from bygone phases of American life, and he disperses them like Easter eggs in his raucous, cutting works, marrying them to more contemporary images.
In works like , Shaw lampoons the upper crust of society with a Calder-esque sculpture that functions as either a wig rack or a head-skewering pike—or maybe both—while a small gladiator stands at the ready to fight the multi-headed creature, which looks to be an impossible task.
What it looks like:
Installation view, “Jim Shaw: Hope Against Hope” at Simon Lee Gallery, London. Photo: Ben Westoby.
<img class="size-large wp-image-1918975" src="https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_One-Percent-For-Art_11793_P-1024×719.jpg" alt="Jim Shaw,
One Percent For Art (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery.” width=”1024″ height=”719″ srcset=”https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_One-Percent-For-Art_11793_P-1024×719.jpg 1024w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_One-Percent-For-Art_11793_P-300×211.jpg 300w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_One-Percent-For-Art_11793_P-50×35.jpg 50w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”>
Jim Shaw, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery.
Installation view, “Jim Shaw: Hope Against Hope” at Simon Lee Gallery, London. Photo: Ben Westoby.
Installation view, “Jim Shaw: Hope Against Hope” at Simon Lee Gallery, London. Photo: Ben Westoby.
Installation view, “Jim Shaw: Hope Against Hope” at Simon Lee Gallery, London. Photo: Ben Westoby.
Jim Shaw, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery.
Installation view, “Jim Shaw: Hope Against Hope” at Simon Lee Gallery, London. Photo: Ben Westoby.
Installation view, “Jim Shaw: Hope Against Hope” at Simon Lee Gallery, London. Photo: Ben Westoby.
<img class="size-large wp-image-1918977" src="https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_The-Master-Mason_11796_P-1024×578.jpg" alt="Jim Shaw,
The Master Mason (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. ” width=”1024″ height=”578″ srcset=”https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_The-Master-Mason_11796_P-1024×578.jpg 1024w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_The-Master-Mason_11796_P-300×169.jpg 300w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_The-Master-Mason_11796_P-50×28.jpg 50w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”>
Jim Shaw, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery.
<img class="size-large wp-image-1918976" src="https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_Pandoras-Box_11787_P-876×1024.jpg" alt="Jim Shaw,
Pandora’s Box (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery.” width=”876″ height=”1024″ srcset=”https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_Pandoras-Box_11787_P-876×1024.jpg 876w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_Pandoras-Box_11787_P-257×300.jpg 257w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_Pandoras-Box_11787_P-43×50.jpg 43w” sizes=”(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px”>
Jim Shaw, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery.
Installation view, “Jim Shaw: Hope Against Hope” at Simon Lee Gallery, London. Photo: Ben Westoby.
<img class="size-large wp-image-1918973" src="https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_Donald-and-Melania-Trump-a-descending-the-escalator-into-the-9th-circle-of-hell-reserved-for-traitors-frozen-in-a-sea-of-ice_11795_P-1024×405.jpg" alt="Jim Shaw,
Donald and Melania Trump a descending the escalator into the 9th circle of hell reserved for traitors frozen in a sea of ice, (2020). ” width=”1024″ height=”405″ srcset=”https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_Donald-and-Melania-Trump-a-descending-the-escalator-into-the-9th-circle-of-hell-reserved-for-traitors-frozen-in-a-sea-of-ice_11795_P-1024×405.jpg 1024w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_Donald-and-Melania-Trump-a-descending-the-escalator-into-the-9th-circle-of-hell-reserved-for-traitors-frozen-in-a-sea-of-ice_11795_P-300×119.jpg 300w, https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2020/10/JS_2020_Donald-and-Melania-Trump-a-descending-the-escalator-into-the-9th-circle-of-hell-reserved-for-traitors-frozen-in-a-sea-of-ice_11795_P-50×20.jpg 50w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”>
Jim Shaw, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
