MUNTEAN/ROSENBLUM

Muntean/Rosenblum (both born in 1962) focus on modes of representation that are considered traditional ways of formulating pathos and are borrowed from classical iconography. Color symbolism, hand gestures, and physical postures are taken from the Christian visual tradition, but divorced from the religious context and applied to the present. Teenagers and young adults appear in generally anonymous urban contexts: these urban settings seem to have been taken from fashion or lifestyle magazines. Muntean/Rosenblum use found material from magazines and journals, collective and media images of a consumer oriented youth culture to raise questions of identity and the subject. The contemporary outfits, which promise individuality and self-confidence, form a sharp contrast to the mannered gestures and poses. Characteristic of their drawings and paintings are subtitles in capital letters on a white background. The supposedly deep, philosophical statements are taken from various fragments from magazines and philosophical texts. Alongside classical media like canvas and paper, Muntean/Rosenblum also use film and installation for their remix of traditional art history and the social.