In the current exhibition, No Fucking Way, six new paintings depict Internet and magazine sourced portraits of tabloid sensations: Casey Anthony, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Knox, Jessica Simpson, Heidi Montag, and the skating rivals Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. The women obligingly pose with the American flag in some form – either wrapped in it, dangling from their mouth, or worn as a bikini. The linen canvases are shaped to resemble large three-pointed folded flags, painted in saccharine pink, and flecked with textured circl... Read more

In the current exhibition, No Fucking Way, six new paintings depict Internet and magazine sourced portraits of tabloid sensations: Casey Anthony, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Knox, Jessica Simpson, Heidi Montag, and the skating rivals Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. The women obligingly pose with the American flag in some form – either wrapped in it, dangling from their mouth, or worn as a bikini.

The linen canvases are shaped to resemble large three-pointed folded flags, painted in saccharine pink, and flecked with textured circles that reveal the entirety of the image when standing at a distance. These portraits are an amalgamation of previous works of flags from his 2011 New York exhibition, BUILT TOUGH and Young’s “Jesus” paintings (Focus On The Four Dots In The Middle Of The Painting For Thirty Seconds, Close Your Eyes And Tilt Your Head Back). But the works that comprise No Fucking Way are a departure from the male-centric iconography of those previous, as well as a major shift into celebrity psyche and pathology.

By placing infamous Court TV hotties along side troubled Hollywood starlets, Young has managed to collapse what constitutes an “actress” – those who choose to perform for a living and those who must perform to save their lives. In the most extreme case, 30 Days, a portrait of Casey Anthony, the mother of a missing 2-year-old, poses for a snapshot as she dances at a party, seemingly carefree. In another, Over the Hills, Heidi Montag in a bikini, a snapshot taken soon after undergoing 10 plastic surgeries in one day.

The halftoning effect Young implements evoke mass media and over-saturation, which has become the vernacular of how we absorb these images. This blurring of real and constructed, only existing in the realm of performance, speculation and judgment, implicates the viewer in its consumption, since our observation of these celebrities will always be mediated.

Young will also be participating in the MoCA organized Rebel show, on view from May 15-June 23 in West Hollywood.