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Cumwizard69420: The Americans

Introduction

Cheim & Read is pleased to present two new exhibitions, Diane Arbus: Untitled and Cumwizard69420: The Americans, at the gallery’s Chelsea location, 547 West 25th Street, New York. The shows open on January 12, 2023, and run through March 18. The Americans is Cumwizard’s first solo exhibition in New York.

Cumwizard69420 describes himself on his personal website as a “former economics and math student” who took his first and only art class, Intro to Drawing and Painting, before dropping out of college in 2019. After a stint as a food delivery driver, he started painting again in 2020 and has since created a remarkable body of boldly colored, fearlessly explicit paintings and watercolors.

Drawing from the media multiverse of TV shows, movies, and the internet, Cumwizard casts a penetrating eye on the inflated egos and self-delusions raging through our celebrity-obsessed culture. And yet these images, which are often unnerving and frequently grotesque, are also generously human, laced with affection and humor. As Als wrote about Arbus’s Untitled photographs, they “don’t feel exploitative in the least, because they are filled with love and discipline.”

The name of the exhibition, The Americans, mirrors the title of the influential photography book by Robert Frank, one of Arbus’s predecessors in the candid depiction of life in the United States. The difference is that Frank, like Arbus, shined a light on ordinary citizens, while Cumwizard’s subjects are busy shining a light on themselves, creating a new kind of social landscape. Rather than appropriating such self-owns at face value, the artist transforms their imagery into the language of paint, layering them with personal themes and references to art history, the movies, and, as he told an interviewer on the website Insufficient Fare, “things that make me laugh.”

2 column Text or Image

WZ.41452 PORTRAIT OF GHISLAINE MAXWELL

Cumwizard69420
Portrait Of Ghislaine Maxwell, 2021
Oil on canvas
16 x 20 inches
40.6 x 50.8 centimeters
CR# WZ.41452

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WZ.42060 I want to be in the middle
WZ.42060 I want to be in the middle

Cumwizard69420
I Want To Be In the Middle, 2022
Oil on canvas
30 x 40 inches
76.2 x 101.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42060

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WZ.42053 Immobile Beauty 2/2

Cumwizard69420
Immobile Beauty 2/2, 2021
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42053

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WZ.42034 Whatchu gonna do

Cumwizard69420
Whatchu Gonna Do Little Boy, 2021
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42110

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WZ.42016 Ellen Come and See

Cumwizard69420
Ellen Come and See Face, 2020
Watercolor on paper
12 x 9 inches
30.5 x 22.9 centimeters
CR# WZ.42016

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WZ.42009 Kanye West

Cumwizard69420
Kanye West, 2021
Watercolor on paper
15 x 11 inches
38.1 x 27.9 centimeters
CR# WZ.42009

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WZ.42052 Girl's gotta eat
WZ.42052 Girl's gotta eat

Cumwizard69420
Girl's Gotta Eat, 2022
Oil on canvas
16 x 20 inches
40.6 x 50.8 centimeters
CR# WZ.42052

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WZ.42056 Mother and Child
WZ.42056 Mother and Child

Cumwizard69420
Mother and Child, 2022
Oil on canvas
24 x 18 inches
61 x 45.7 centimeters
CR# WZ.42056

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WZ.42071 Come help grandpappy
WZ.42071 Come help grandpappy

Cumwizard69420
Come Help Grandpappy With His Pants, 2021
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42071

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WZ42024 Woody Allen
WZ42024 Woody Allen

Cumwizard69420
Woody Allen, 2022
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42024

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2 column Text or Image

WZ.42041 Study of Jeffrey Epstein
WZ.42041 Study of Jeffrey Epstein

Cumwizard69420
A Study Of Jeffrey Epstein, 2022
Oil on canvas
24 x 18 inches
61 x 45.7 centimeters
CR# WZ.42041

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WZ.42036 Miss J
WZ.42036 Miss J

Cumwizard69420
Miss J, 2022
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42036

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WZ.42051 Hello Old Friend

Cumwizard69420
Hello Old Friend, 2022
Oil on canvas
16 x 16 inches
40.6 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42051

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WZ.42082 Face Down Ass Up
WZ.42082 Face Down Ass Up

Cumwizard69420
Face Down Ass Up, 2022
Oil on canvas
18 x 24 inches
45.7 x 61 centimeters
CR# WZ.42082

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WZ.42065 Sleeping Beauty

Cumwizard69420
Sleeping Beauty, 2022
Oil on canvas
36 x 48 inches
91.4 x 121.9 centimeters
CR# WZ.42065

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WZ.42073 Trump

Cumwizard69420
Trump, 2022
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42073

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WZ.42044 Woman Screams At Trump's Inauguration
WZ.42044 Woman Screams At Trump's Inauguration

Cumwizard69420
Woman Screams At Trump's Inauguration, 2021
Oil on canvas
16 x 20 inches
40.6 x 50.8 centimeters
CR# WZ.42044

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WZ42055 Study Of a Figure

Cumwizard69420
Study Of a Figure, 2022
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42055

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WZ.42080 Whoa there partna

Cumwizard69420
Whoa There Partna, Come On In and Take a Load Off, 2022
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42080

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WZ.42066 The Beautiful Caitlyn Jenner
WZ.42066 The Beautiful Caitlyn Jenner

Cumwizard69420
The Beautiful Caitlyn Jenner, 2021
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 centimeters
CR# WZ.42066

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WZ.42108 Man with saggy undies

Cumwizard69420
Man With Saggy Undies, 2022
Oil on canvas
24 x 18 inches
61 x 45.7 centimeters
CR# WZ.42108

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WZ.42057 There's a darkness at the edge of town
WZ.42057 There's a darkness at the edge of town

Cumwizard69420
There's a Darkness On the Edge Of Town, 2022
Oil on canvas
18 x 24 inches
45.7 x 61 centimeters
CR# WZ.42057

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WZ.41719 Aaron from Eastbound

Cumwizard69420
Aaron From Eastbound and Down, 2022
Watercolor on paper
9 x 12 inches
22.9 x 30.5 centimeters
CR# WZ.41719

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