Paying tribute to the ornate stylings of the Late Baroque period, William Villalongo fills his canvas with frolicking maidens, nymphs and satyrs. Wooded glades, iridescent pools, and leafy bowers set the stage for what were traditionally fanciful idylls. Villalongo’s tales however take place not in the time of Louis XV’s Regence debauchery but in our own present day equivalent. Not simply a pretty picture, they tell a tale of lust and depravity, greed and envy. Watteau and Boucher gave us the gods and goddesses of the aristocracy, William Villalongo gives us Man.
William Villalongo first emerged with an appearance in Frequency at the Studio Museum in Harlem followed by Greater New York at MOMA PS1 Villalongo’s work has recently been included in museum exhibitions at the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Princeton University, and the University of South Florida, Tampa. Additional work from this series may be seen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in “Next Wave” curated by Dan Cameron through 19 December.
