March 11 – August 27
By literally painting celebrity icons on top of 18th and 19th-century religious icons of saints (purchased on e-bay), British artist Robert Priseman examines the contemporary obsession with celebrity and how in it has mimicked or even replaced religious faith. Selecting celebrities whose lives ended prematurely in self-destructive or otherwise traumatic ways, the Fame series repurposes the religious definition of martyrdom and redefines it for the sake of celebrity lifestyle and status. This exhibition celebrates one of the UAMA’s most recent and major acquisitions—71 of the more than 100 works in the Fame series will be displayed and are now part of the UAMA permanent collection.
