RIVERA & RIVERA is pleased to announce Ward of the State: Tony Ward, Artists’ Muse, a group exhibition of works centered on shared muse, Tony Ward. Curated by Robert Standish, the exhibition highlights a diverse collection of images by artists whose lives and careers have at various points been impacted by Ward, as subject, muse and myth. A reception for the artists will be held on Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 6 – 8 p.m. Ward of the State: Tony Ward, Artists’ Muse includes artwork by Greg Gorman, Steven Klein, Patrick Hoelck, P... Read more

RIVERA & RIVERA is pleased to announce Ward of the State: Tony Ward, Artists’ Muse, a group exhibition of works centered on shared muse, Tony Ward. Curated by Robert Standish, the exhibition highlights a diverse collection of images by artists whose lives and careers have at various points been impacted by Ward, as subject, muse and myth. A reception for the artists will be held on Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 6 – 8 p.m.
Ward of the State: Tony Ward, Artists’ Muse includes artwork by Greg Gorman, Steven Klein, Patrick Hoelck, Patrick Martinez, Herb Ritts, Estevan Oriol, RETNA, Tony Ward, Paul Rusconi, Bruce Weber, Robert Standish, Michael Gregg Michaud, Jules Muck, Rick Castro, Christoph Schmidberger, Ray Turner, Maya Mercer and Tony Ward.
Called “male icon of the century” by Paris Vogue, Ward has been the subject of numerous photographers and designers, including Bruce Weber, Jim French, Steven Meisel, Herb Ritts, Bruce LaBruce, Ellen Von Unwerth, Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, and numerous others. Ward has also appeared in Madonna’s book Sex, as well as in her hyper-sexualized music videos.
Ranging from the 1980s to the present, Ward of the State will feature paintings, photographs, and works in other media based on Tony Ward’s role as a visual icon. Through their respective mediums, each artist communicates a different facet of a man not easily defined. As a collective work of art, Ward of the State reveals Ward as the embodiment of ideals of masculinity, beauty, brutality, fashion, and sexual ambiguity.
As striking and strongly featured as his face and physique are, Ward serves as a blank canvas for the artists to reinterpret and immortalize his essence and persona for their own artistic devices.