Deborah Oropallo : Prints from the Guise Series

Robischon Gallery is also pleased to present recent prints from Deborah Oropallo's "Guise" series. An acclaimed Bay Area painter, the artist is now exploring the possibilities of the digital medium. The pigment prints from "Guise" combine appropriated images from lavish 17th and 18th c-entury portraits of powerful men, such as Napoleon, superimposed with images of contemporary women in provocative costumes. The women's spiked heels, jaunty hips and come-hither gazes are readily identified as costume, but the imposing postures, uniforms and accoutrements of male power are rarely recognized as costume. Rather, these are considered to be emblematic of "true" power. By conflating divergent messages of power, the artist asks, if "the popularity of fetish fashion stems from the fact that it makes women appear strong and very powerful?" The carefully considered deconstructions of gesture, pose and preconceived notions of gender clearly demonstrate that power is culturally determined. Additionally, George is translated into tapestry from the Magnolia Tapestry Project which utilizes innovative weaving techniques from adjacent combinations of colored threads. Only from a distance can the fused image of the first president and a seductive, boot-clad woman be fully deciphered through a union of conceptual and visual information. The Project includes tapestries by artists such as Chuck Close, Enrique Chagoya, Nancy Spero and many others.