Sean Landers 'Around the World Alone': Paintings Of An Artist Clown At Petzel Gallery In NYC

With his newest series of paintings, Around the World Alone, painter, sculptor, and video artist Sean Landers takes a new approach to his age old themes. Known for his text paintings -- canvases covered with words and some accompanying images -- Landers has made his mark as an artist working from his stream of conscious. While the Around the World Alone paintings are void of Landers' signature text technique, they continue to embody these psychological aspects, a clear representation of an artist's interior life. The series depicts a solitary clown in a boat, caught in a wild and lonely sea both literally and figuratively. The clown character, having appeared in Landers earlier work, Alone (1996), allowed the artist to, "break the mold of people's perception of me as the 'text painting guy,' helped me define myself as an image maker and emancipated my future as an artist." Each painting portrays a anguished and pensive clown, perhaps a metaphor for the artist as a lifetime searcher and adventurer.

Sean Landers, Around the World Alone, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, 537 West 22nd st., New York, NY, 10011, May 6- June 18, 2011.