Robert Cenedella (American; b. 1940) Public Enemny No. 1 Lithograph c. 1969 24“ x 24“, framed Edition 96/250 Signed in pencil lower right, numbered lower left
Robert Cenedella is a New York artist who has spent years battling the New York art establishment. Born in Massachusetts in 1940, Cenedella would study under the German Social Realist painter George Grosz, an artist who would forever influence his practice. Cenedella sees his work as history painting that describes the foibles and hypocrisies of contemporary America. The object of his derisive wit has been America's pursuit of corporate and military power, and its obsession with money, materialism, and sports.
The print offered here is based on his painting from 1965 made for his solo exhibition “Yes Art!” at the Fitzgerald Gallery in New York. This exhibition was a satirical gesture and critical analysis of the Pop Art movement and the marketing hype that made it popular. Although by all accounts the exhibition was very popular and widely reviewed, “Yes Art!” would serve as Cenedella’s farewell to art as he decided to join an advertising agency and escape the art world.
Cenedella was the subject of the 2016 documentary “Art Bastard” - a film that would win Best Documentary at the Manchester Film Festival, the Big Apple Film Festival, the Newport Beach Film Festival, and many others.
