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Denise De La Rue

Matador

June 14–21, 2008
Beverly Hills

Denise De La Rue: Matador Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Denise De La Rue: Matador

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Denise De La Rue: Matador Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Denise De La Rue: Matador

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Denise De La Rue: Matador Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Denise De La Rue: Matador

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Works Exhibited

Denise De La Rue, Antonio Fernandez Pineda, Madrid, Spain, 2006 Color lightjet print, 56 ¾ × 35 ⅜ inches (144 × 90 cm), 78 ¾ × 49 ¼ inches (200 × 125 cm), edition of 3

Denise De La Rue, Antonio Fernandez Pineda, Madrid, Spain, 2006

Color lightjet print, 56 ¾ × 35 ⅜ inches (144 × 90 cm), 78 ¾ × 49 ¼ inches (200 × 125 cm), edition of 3

Denise De La Rue, Jose Mauricio Moret, Mexico City, Mexico, 2005 Analog print on color glossy paper, 35 ⅜ × 41 ¾ inches (90 × 106 cm), 49 ¼ × 58 ¼ inches (125 × 148 cm), edition of 3

Denise De La Rue, Jose Mauricio Moret, Mexico City, Mexico, 2005

Analog print on color glossy paper, 35 ⅜ × 41 ¾ inches (90 × 106 cm), 49 ¼ × 58 ¼ inches (125 × 148 cm), edition of 3

Denise De La Rue, Ignacio Garibay, Mexico City, Mexico, 2006 Analog print on color glossy paper, 48 ⅜ × 35 ⅜ inches (123 × 90 cm), edition of 3

Denise De La Rue, Ignacio Garibay, Mexico City, Mexico, 2006

Analog print on color glossy paper, 48 ⅜ × 35 ⅜ inches (123 × 90 cm), edition of 3

About

Book signing: Saturday, June 21st, from 2 to 4 pm

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of photographs by Denise De La Rue. This is her first exhibition with the gallery.

De La Rue's Matador series offers a glimpse into the complex social and moral implications of modern bullfighting, a cultural cornerstone of the Hispanic world. She portrays the mythic bullfighters of Mexico and Spain immediately after the fight, often bloodied. Her large- scale photographs dissect the constructed façade of the fight to provoke new perceptions of familiar images.

Removed from the immediacy of the ring, De La Rue places the matadors in settings that are reminiscent of Baroque portrait painting. Museums and mirrored dressing rooms draped with tapestries are backdrops depicting religious scenes. De La Rue uses her primarily male subjects to examine the accepted tenets of the bullfighting culture and to expose the dualities embedded in this historic tradition. She explores the dual identity of these heroes of the past, part ballet dancer - beautiful in their ornate dress and elegant dance in the ring; part warrior - locked in mortal combat with the toro bravo. At the same time, she asks viewers to consider both the lionization of the fighters in Hispanic cultures and the pervasive disapproval of the sport by the rest of the world. Matador expands on her previous series profiling Mexican wrestlers and continues her exploration of the many identities and personas that shape our world.

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