Disrupting Tradition | The Artistic Rebellion of Jake and Dinos Chapman

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The Chapman brothers, Jake and Dinos, have made the pursuit of shock a habit in their decades-long, joint (and now solo) careers. The brothers, brought up in England by a British father and Greek mother, have revelled in their identity as Les Enfants Terribles of British art—whilst picking up accolades, such as a Turner Prize nomination, along the way.

^{Jake and Dinos Chapman (b.1966 and 1962) 'One Day You Will No Longer Be Loved (that it should come to this...) XVI', 2012 oil on canvas 112 x 85.5cm (£8,000-12,000)}

Much of their work has repurposed objects or symbols to subvert their original use or meaning, whether disfiguring dolls or imposing the logos and fare of McDonald’s onto quasi-African masks as seen in a 2013 exhibition at the White Cube Gallery. One of their greatest outrages was defacing the series of 80 etchings from the Disasters of War collection by Goya in 2004. The etchings were painted over by the brothers to include ghoulish expressions and clown faces.

Four years later, the brothers leaned into a similar tactic of altering existing artworks; they added symbols associated with hippy culture to a collection of watercolours by Adolf Hitler, which were then marketed for sale. As part of this same 2008 exhibition, the brothers included the display One Day You Will No Longer Be Loved. A series where the brothers painted over Old Masters-style portraits, imagining the decaying faces of death onto the oil paintings. The result is stomach-twisting, as if a casket has been opened after only a few weeks or months have passed.

^{'One Day You Will No Longer Be Loved (that it should come to this...) XVIII', 2012 oil on canvas 85 x 65cm (£6,000-8,000)}

It is out of this concept that the portraits, available in our Modern & Contemporary Art auction, emerged. The works are exemplary of the Chapman Brothers’ inclination towards the macabre, of their penchant for creating art in conversation with the past by altering original works to their own ends, and now that the brothers have dissolved their partnership, the works take on new artistic value.

Tuesday 9 April | 10am

pictures@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778

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