KAPLAN TWINS I Only Summer in the Hamptons Oil on canvas, 2018 48 x 72 inches
Roman Fine Art is pleased to announce, I Only Summer in the Hamptons, a selection of new work from LA-based multidisciplinary artists, The Kaplan Twins, to be presented at the Montauk Beach House this July 4th weekend.
The Kaplan Twins gucci gang
Celebrated for their nude depictions of personalities like Kim Kardashian West, Emily Ratajkowski and Amber Rose, The Kaplan Twins’ latest paintings continue to utilize the quirky, ridiculous and engrossing culture of internet fame while exploring new modes of communication, and the resulting evolution of language and symbolism. Over the past two years, the internet / digital artists have caused quite a stir with their previous bodies of work dubbed “self-aware, ‘sexploitation’ art” by W magazine. However, the progressive artists are evolving into their next phase.
With, I Only Summer in the Hamptons, Roman Fine Art brings The Kaplan Twins’ unique sense of ironic, yet playful humor from LA to the East End, exploring a concept for the digital era. In this new series of oil paintings, The Kaplan Twins incorporate witty text, humorous ideograms, and “trendy” objects to pull from popular iconography. Allowing for commentary on “overheard” and “millennial culture”, compositions are driven by ubiquitous social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Imagery of luxury goods, status icons and emoji eggplants are blown out of scale and paired with colloquialisms derived from sexting, “Swipe Left / Swipe Right” culture. The colorful pieces comment on our current need to keep our Instagram feeds more filtered, more exaggerated, more curated, and “better than yours”.
The Hamptons, being the Summer location for affluent East Coaster’s, and spiritual neighbor to communities such as Miami and Los Angeles, undeniably attracts the “trend-afflicted” to its perfect beaches, in their search for the “it” crowd. These millennials flock into the beach towns in droves, seeking out the latest and best of everything, and the twins new body of work plays perfectly to their target audience, with a hint of irony .
The Kaplan Twins are not as straightforward as they may initially appear. They encourage us to reconsider the nature of art using their brand of wit, humor, and a dissection of our evolving use of language. Equal parts performative, conceptual, digital, and fine artists The Kaplan Twins can be added to the cannon of emerging Millennial Artists fusing Page Six celebrity, Instagram influencer and wry humor into one. They cite Warhol’s quote “Everyone will be famous” and aim to explore the notion that everyone is looking at the same homogenized imagery for inspiration.
The Kaplan Twins Yeezy
I Only Summer in the Hamptons?: The Kaplan Twins July 4th Weekend 2018 OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, July 6, 6-8pm Montauk Beach House, 55 S Elmwood Ave, Montauk, NY 11954 romanfineart.com
About the Artists:
The Kaplan Twins’ (b. 1993, New Jersey) work explores the complexities of today’s celebrity culture and comments on it through the eyes of their millennial generation. Their goal is to create a conversation, while breaking through societal cliches and taboos, and looking at today’s media headlines through a different lens. Working as a duo, they attended NYU graduating in 2015, Allie with BFA in Fine art with a concentration in painting, Minor in Art History, Lexi with a BFA in Fine art with a concentration in painting. They have shown mainly in Los Angeles, most notably We Rise Gallery, De Re Gallery and the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, they have also been included in several pop-up exhibitions, and performed a live piece at the Delano Hotel during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2017. They are included in numerous celebrity and private collections
worldwide.
