Patricia Cronin: Army of Love
5 Sep - 18 Oct 2025
The 1969 profound discovery of a sacred temple in Knidos, Turkey by archaeologist Iris Love is the source of Cronin’s imagery and aesthetic choices. It once held a cult statue of the first monumental female nude — Praxiteles' Knidian Aphrodite (350 b.c.e.), since lost — which influenced every image of the goddess that was created and disseminated throughout the ancient world, many of them residing today in museums globally. Drawing art historical references from Praxiteles to Arte Povera, Cronin crafts two dimensional ethereal “sentinels” from materials such as oil, bleach, salt, marble paper and tarps. These evoke classical archetypes reimagined for today as they sometimes flutter and float free of their supports, dissolving boundaries between public and private, past and present. Centering female power, Army of Love challenges conventional ideas of heroism, replacing conquest with compassion, and reframing the idea of an “army” as a collective force for love, dignity, and care.
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