Visually arresting and evocative, Provocateurs creates space for mystery by inviting the beholder to generate meaning and construct new context. Universal symbols - like beauty, fame, and conflict - are refreshed through a contemporary lens. While these symbols transcend boundaries of time their depiction and interpretation within the art historical canon has transformed from signification prescribed by the artist to context created by the viewer.  

The female body, a predominant symbol and subject in the history of art, exemplifies the shifted power dynamic between artist, artwork and viewer. Where the prehistoric Venus of Willendorf undeniably referenced fertility and Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People (1830) portrayed the female figure as allegory personified, the emergence of modernism brought about a new mode for visual interpretation. Seen first in Edouard Manet’s Olympia (1863), a point blank stare signaled agency for the woman on display and shocked viewers as they came to their own conclusions. Similarly, Provocateurs highlights artists who create work that mystify, enchant, challenge, and fascinate through overt forms and hidden meanings.

Salvador Dalí and Raphael Mazzucco transfix the viewer with posture and pose in surrealist and dream-like sequences. While female contemporary artists such as Mickalane Thomas, Sofia Cianciulli, and Lisa Yuskavage use the naked body as a means to subvert the male gaze, defying traditional positioning of the female form. Bob Gruen, Kate Garner, and Andy Warhol immortalize the influence of celebrity, prompting reflection on the instinctive appetite for fortune, fame, and legacy. Through real and invented language, text is used and obscured by The Connor Brothers, Jenny Holzer, Ed Ruscha and RETNA, left deliberately vague to prompt internal dialogue within the viewer. John Baldessari, Robert Longo, and Yue Minjun’s referential images depict and abstract explosive detonations while purposefully withholding the conflict’s context. Damien Hirst, Shepard Fairey and Cleon Peterson incorporate loaded symbols to comment on society’s desire to numb, alter, and challenge the status quo.  

In this exhibition, West Chelsea Contemporary’s white walls and bright lights are transformed into an immersive reverie of glamour, fame, romance, and mystery. Left deliberately vague with context stripped away, the works in this show offer limitless readings. Provocateurs invites viewers to choose their own adventure and delve into a world where power lies in the interpretation and the art dares to look back.