March 18th -April 13th, 2011

Cross MacKenzie Gallery is pleased to present new paintings on magazine covers by artist, Cindy Kane. A DC area native, Kane was brought up in a politically active family and remains keenly attuned to current affairs and its coverage.  In her paintings on magazine covers, she engages in a dialogue with the coverage of the headlines as she juxtaposes her images with the magazine titles and all the publications’ subject implies.  Her observations and commentaries are sometimes poignant, often whimsical and always timely.  A favorite is her exquisite painting of butterfly wings on the cover of “Worth” magazine – her meaning is clear – it is not the financial matters normally profiled within, that truly hold real value.  On “Art in America” she renders a most delicate bird portrait, reminding us that no matter how skilled the artist, the work doesn’t approach the magnificent art in nature.  “TIME” magazine is transformed by her depiction of a humming bird whose wings beat at a rate unfathomable in a human’s understanding of time and space. She addresses the bear and bull markets with close-ups of the beasts on “Economist” covers, she paints melting glaciers on “Coastal Living” and renders oceans ablaze on “Fortune” magazine.  In addition to riffing on the national publications, Kane has painted on our local DC magazines such as DC, Capitol File, National Geographic, the Economist, The Atlantic and DC Luxury.  Working directly on the magazines was a natural outgrowth of the artist’s interest in collage and her earlier paintings incorporated maps, sheet music and children’s drawings.

Cindy Kane is a prolific artist whose work has shown from California to NY and is included in numerous private and corporate collections across the country. Her artwork reflects the broad range of her interests from her children’s innocent fantasy worlds to the serious issues in the news like the devastating wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The power in her work lies in her ability to combine these worlds by delivering up their clashing content and opposing messages into a visually cohesive universe, weaving these human complexities into one idea.  One is equally disturbed and comforted at the same time. 

Kane’s 2009 installation work, “The Helmet Project” incorporates written artifacts from contemporary journalists’ coverage of the news, into her painted sculptures of soldiers’ helmets hanging in the round from the ceiling.  She paid tribute to dozens of foreign correspondents that she admired by inviting them to contribute their actual notes, airline tickets, and other written evidence of their news coverage, for her 50 helmet collages.  The names of her collaborators are familiar: Jacki Lyden, Scott Simon, Neal Conan, Geraldine Brooks, Charlayne Hunter- Gault,  Dana Priest, Martha Raddatz among others.

Cindy Kane’s magazine cover paintings continue her artistic dialogue with journalists and grounds her sophisticated painting in the germane contemporary issues covered. “My work reflects my sense of balance or instability as I observe the political and environmental tumult of our times.  I am fascinated by migration patterns and the forces of nature, and I try to incorporate these issues into my paintings” ­–  says the artist.

Kane magazines are the only monthly publications worthy of saving and have an eternal shelf life.