The Dead Artists Gallery presents “Trophy of Atlanta”

O/Masonite

Signed L/R “Comer Jennings” (1926-2016)

This is a mid-century painting by well-known artist and teacher from Atlanta, GA. By combining both his skill as a still life artist and his interest in the humor and conflation of reality and dream-scape of the surrealists, Jennings presents the eagle-eyed viewer with a variety of Atlanta hallmarks wedged in the ground. The tazza urn, which dominates the foreground is a red herring, showing Jenning’s interest in the misdirective impulse of the Surrealists that preceded him. The real artist effort is instead focused on the background, showing the Coca Cola bottles, a high flying Atlanta Falcon, even a Brave’s face peeking around the wine bottle, surrounded by the racing flags of a motor circuit. This reversal of importance- the background holding significance over the fore is a thoroughly contemporary artistic practice, first pioneered by Pollock in the abstract and then again by Warhol in the figural.

42 in x 35.5 in, original frame, circa 1970

 $1450